Israel’s security system is concerned over attempts by Tehran to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah in Beirut via civilian flights from Tehran, a senior Israeli intelligence official told Al-Monitor this week. 

“This is not a cat and mouse game. It is more a skirmish between a cat and a snake. Both sides have pretty good capabilities and they know each other very well,” the official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, referring to the campaign Israel has been waging over the past decade against extensive Iranian smuggling of arms, ammunition and precision missile components to Hezbollah.

The latest round in this ongoing campaign was prompted by Israeli concerns over Iran’s suspected intention to launch an aerial smuggling route from Tehran to Beirut using civilian flights of Meraj Airlines, operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which started direct flights from Tehran to Beirut in mid-November. This corridor would reportedly complement or replace the smuggling carried out in recent years through Syria, shipments that Israel has reportedly targeted repeatedly.

“On the one hand, this is serious and we will deal with it,” the intelligence source told Al-Monitor. “On the other hand, let's not forget that passenger flights have a limited load capacity and therefore the smuggled equipment weighs no more than passengers’ hand luggage so that the threat it poses is not significant. Nonetheless, we do not treat this lightly.”