Middle East Times
Special Report: Satellite Imagery Confirms Syrian Troops in Lebanon
By CLAUDE SALHANI = Editor, Middle East Times
Published: June 27, 2008
Satellite imagery obtained by Jane's shows Syrian troops on Lebanese soil in the remote and rugged hills north of the town of Rashaya al-Wadi, despite Damascus having ended its military occupation of Lebanon in April 2005.
Jane's, the publishing house specializing in military matters, has demonstrated through commercially available imagery obtained by the company from DigitalGlobe, showing Syrian troops deployed on Lebanese territory and being reinforced in early 2008. According to Jane's, these maneuvers took place just ahead of Israel's largest ever civilian and military war drill.
According to the highly informative publication, "the deployment suggests mutual mistrust remains and hence peace negotiations will struggle to succeed."
At the behest of Turkey, Syria and Israel held secret peace negotiations in April and May. These were later confirmed. But as Jane's points out, "both countries are negotiating from a position of domestic weakness and hence agreement is likely to be difficult."
Additionally, the level of mistrust between the long-time protagonists is rendering talks between the two camps much more difficult. That in turn has been reflected on the ground "by increased Syrian deployments on Lebanese territory."
Jane's has been able to confirm the increased Syrian presence on Lebanese soil through commercial digital imagery obtained by Jane's.
The accompanying article by Jane's states that the "little-known presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon demonstrates that, despite the peace talks between the two sides confirmed in simultaneous announcements in Syria and Israel on 21 May 2008, mutual mistrust continues to characterize regional relationships. As a result, despite the recognition of peace talks, negotiations are likely to be fraught while military preparedness will remain high."
Christian Le Miere, managing editor Jane's Country Risk, commented "Securing a lasting peace deal between the two countries is unlikely in the near future for two main reasons. First, the leaderships of Israel and Syria are operating from positions of weakness. Second, Syria is refusing to drop its backing for groups such as Hezbollah and to distance itself from Iran."
The result is a vicious circle where mistrust demands greater military preparedness, which in turn creates mistrust on the other side, demanding additional military preparedness.
"Syria appears to continue to deploy troops on Lebanese soil in the remote and rugged hills north of the town of Rashaya al-Wadi, despite Damascus having ended its military occupation of Lebanon in April 2005," reports the Jane's article.
The report goes on to say that "Syrian positions in Lebanon appear designed purely as a forward defensive line in the case of any Israeli advance and not as conduits for weaponry smuggled from Syria to Hezbollah.
The militant Lebanese Shiite organization receives much of its armaments along the border in the northern Bekaa Valley adjacent to Shiite areas under the group's control.
Further commercial satellite imagery obtained by Jane's from DigitalGlobe from Dec. 24, 2006 and March 12, 2008 suggest that Syria has undertaken a moderate increase in its equipment and therefore its activity at the apparent Syrian military bases on Lebanese soil. The new equipment includes what appears to be towed and self-propelled artillery and a T-54/55 tank.
"Human intelligence verification of the increase in activity is impossible," according to the Jane's report, which goes on to say that "in late 2005, the Lebanese Armed Forces sealed off the hills to the east of Kfar Qouk. An LAF checkpoint at the junction of the only road leading to Deir al-Ashayer bars all but local residents from reaching the village. The nearby village of Halwa is also sealed off by the army. Although there are no Syrian army bases in the vicinity of Halwa, there are several small outposts manned by pro-Damascus Palestinian groups such as Fatah Intifada and as-Saiqa. These outposts are linked to Syria by un-patrolled dirt tracks used by commercial smugglers as well as militants for resupplying equipment and personnel."
By CLAUDE SALHANI = Editor, Middle East Times
Published: June 27, 2008
Satellite imagery obtained by Jane's shows Syrian troops on Lebanese soil in the remote and rugged hills north of the town of Rashaya al-Wadi, despite Damascus having ended its military occupation of Lebanon in April 2005.
Jane's, the publishing house specializing in military matters, has demonstrated through commercially available imagery obtained by the company from DigitalGlobe, showing Syrian troops deployed on Lebanese territory and being reinforced in early 2008. According to Jane's, these maneuvers took place just ahead of Israel's largest ever civilian and military war drill.
According to the highly informative publication, "the deployment suggests mutual mistrust remains and hence peace negotiations will struggle to succeed."
At the behest of Turkey, Syria and Israel held secret peace negotiations in April and May. These were later confirmed. But as Jane's points out, "both countries are negotiating from a position of domestic weakness and hence agreement is likely to be difficult."
Additionally, the level of mistrust between the long-time protagonists is rendering talks between the two camps much more difficult. That in turn has been reflected on the ground "by increased Syrian deployments on Lebanese territory."
Jane's has been able to confirm the increased Syrian presence on Lebanese soil through commercial digital imagery obtained by Jane's.
The accompanying article by Jane's states that the "little-known presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon demonstrates that, despite the peace talks between the two sides confirmed in simultaneous announcements in Syria and Israel on 21 May 2008, mutual mistrust continues to characterize regional relationships. As a result, despite the recognition of peace talks, negotiations are likely to be fraught while military preparedness will remain high."
Christian Le Miere, managing editor Jane's Country Risk, commented "Securing a lasting peace deal between the two countries is unlikely in the near future for two main reasons. First, the leaderships of Israel and Syria are operating from positions of weakness. Second, Syria is refusing to drop its backing for groups such as Hezbollah and to distance itself from Iran."
The result is a vicious circle where mistrust demands greater military preparedness, which in turn creates mistrust on the other side, demanding additional military preparedness.
"Syria appears to continue to deploy troops on Lebanese soil in the remote and rugged hills north of the town of Rashaya al-Wadi, despite Damascus having ended its military occupation of Lebanon in April 2005," reports the Jane's article.
The report goes on to say that "Syrian positions in Lebanon appear designed purely as a forward defensive line in the case of any Israeli advance and not as conduits for weaponry smuggled from Syria to Hezbollah.
The militant Lebanese Shiite organization receives much of its armaments along the border in the northern Bekaa Valley adjacent to Shiite areas under the group's control.
Further commercial satellite imagery obtained by Jane's from DigitalGlobe from Dec. 24, 2006 and March 12, 2008 suggest that Syria has undertaken a moderate increase in its equipment and therefore its activity at the apparent Syrian military bases on Lebanese soil. The new equipment includes what appears to be towed and self-propelled artillery and a T-54/55 tank.
"Human intelligence verification of the increase in activity is impossible," according to the Jane's report, which goes on to say that "in late 2005, the Lebanese Armed Forces sealed off the hills to the east of Kfar Qouk. An LAF checkpoint at the junction of the only road leading to Deir al-Ashayer bars all but local residents from reaching the village. The nearby village of Halwa is also sealed off by the army. Although there are no Syrian army bases in the vicinity of Halwa, there are several small outposts manned by pro-Damascus Palestinian groups such as Fatah Intifada and as-Saiqa. These outposts are linked to Syria by un-patrolled dirt tracks used by commercial smugglers as well as militants for resupplying equipment and personnel."
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