From MSNBC:
TEHRAN, Iran – No part of Israel is safe in the current fighting with Lebanon, Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned Tuesday, referring to the range of guerrilla rockets.
Speaking to a crowd of thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators in Palestine Square, Tehran, Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel told Israelis: “The towns you have built in northern Palestine (Israel) are within the range of the brave Lebanese children. No part of Israel will be safe.”
While the speaker is not among the most influential office-bearers in Iran, Haddad Adel’s comments call into question the Tehran government’s official position that it is not involved in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
Iran and its ally Syria are the principal backers of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that provoked the current fighting when its guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers from a post in northern Israel last week. On Monday, Israeli military officials said their planes had destroyed a long-range missile, named “Zelzal,” that Hezbollah had received from Iran.
The Zelzal missile in question has a range that makes it capable of hitting Tel Aviv. According to Missile Threat:
“The complete lack of a guidance system makes the system only useful as an artillery system to bombard a general area or a large target. As there is no guidance system, the angle and direction of launch will determine the ability of the missile to fly straight, and thus its accuracy. When properly launched, the Zelzal is accurate
within several kilometers of its target … in 2004 Hezbollah received 220 missiles from Iran, and the weapons have been stored in bunkers in three locations in the Bekaa Valley.”
The MSNBC article continues:
Israel has alleged that 100 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards are in Lebanon acting as advisers to Hezbollah. Iran has denied the accusation, saying Hezbollah is strong enough to defend itself.
In his speech, Haddad Adel praised Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, calling him a “brave lion,” and argued that the Palestinians and Lebanese had every right to fight Israel because Israel has hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians in its prisons.
He was also warned that there would be no peace until the United States stopped supporting Israel.
Addressing Washington, he said: “Either cut your support for Israel, or don’t expect peace and compromise with the world.”
The crowd responded with chants of “Death to Israel!”