ANKARA, Aug 17, 2006 (AFP) - Turkey has grounded two Syria-bound Iranian planes over the past month to search for weapons following Israeli intelligence that Iran is supplying rockets to Hezbollah, officials and media reports said Thursday. | Wonder how the weapons get from Iran to the Hezbies? Here's one route. |
He was commenting on a report in the mass-circulation Hurriyet daily, which said that two Iranian planes flying to Syria were forced to land in Diyarbakir on July 27 and August 8 following an Israeli tip-off that they were carrying rockets destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. No military equipment was discovered in either of the aircraft, the newspaper said.
Ankara sought to keep the incidents secret out of concern that diplomatic relations with Iran might suffer, it added.