The powerful Iran-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon, Hizbullah, has a great interest in downing an Israeli aircraft in Lebanese airspace, according to the head of the Research Division for IDF Intelligence. Syria and Iran are making sure they have the tools to do so.
Brigadier-General Yossi Baidatz, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that 
Nasrallah is seeking to promote his organization's legitimacy as a Lebanese patriotic movement.
Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah is seeking to promote his organization's legitimacy as a Lebanese patriotic movement. One way to do so is to carry out an operation that would appear to be strictly in the interest of Lebanon as a sovereign state.
"On the one hand," Brig.-Gen. Baidatz said of Hizbullah, "it is a terrorist organization, and therefore feels the need to attack Israel, but on the other hand, it is afraid of her and is looking for legitimacy for its actions. Evidence indicates that Hizbullah will try to shoot down Israeli aircraft flying over Lebanon." Hizbullah, the Military Intelligence officer continued, "is continuing to build its capabilities both in quality and in quantity."
Gemayel: Hizbullah 'Serves the Interests of Iran'
According to an August edition of a Lebanese newspaper identified with the Shi'ite sector in Lebanon, which Hizbullah purports to represent, the terror group is "close to adopting practical measures that will force Israel to cease the overflights." In fact, later that month, a Hizbullah gunman shot down a Lebanese Army helicopter in southern Lebanon when he misidentified it as Israeli.
Citing the downed helicopter, Nadim Gemayel, son of the late Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel, called on Sunday for the disarming of Hizbullah, saying they were a "threat to civil peace." Hizbullah's weapons, he said, were illegitimate and "serve the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran." He also said that arms currently in the hands of the Arab refugee camps on Lebanese soil are a "constant threat to Lebanon."
Gemayel addressed a primarily Christian audience at a church in Ashrafiyeh during a memorial service marking the 26th anniversary of his father's assassination.
The Lebanese government, currently subject to Hizbullah veto, voted in August to allow the Iran-backed militia to keep its weapons arsenal. The government decision specifically approved Hizbullah activities aimed at Israel.
Syria Continues to Arm Hizbullah
As the sometimes violent debate over Hizbullah arms rages in Lebanon, Syria is continuing to feed the Shi'ite terror groups arsenal, according to Brig.-Gen. Baidatz.
Syria "is continuing to march along in two tracks," Baidatz said, "the track of peace and openness to the West, which made the visit of French President Nicholas Sarkozy possible, and the second track of deepening its involvement with the radical axis and ongoing strengthening and rearming of Hizbullah. Syria is at peace with these two trends and neither track poses a threat [to Syria]."
A United Nations task force assigned to investigate weapons smuggling in Lebanon reported in August that Hizbullah has been bringing arms across the Syrian-Lebanese border. This confirmed Israeli allegations that the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group has been steadily rearming with Syrian assistance and Lebanese collusion.
According to a report published earlier that month in the Times of London, the assassinated Syrian presidential aide Brig.-Gen. Mohammad Suleiman had been in charge of supplying Hizbullah terrorists with the advanced SA-8 surface-to-air missile system, while Kuwait's Al-Siyasa reported that 300 Iranian analysts were setting up various anti-aircraft batteries for Hizbullah in Lebanon's western mountain range.
Hamas Threat Also Growing
Brig.-Gen. Baidatz also presented analysis of the Hamas threat from Gaza to the Knesset forum.
"Smuggling continues," he said, "and Hamas is increasing the threat from its rockets, which increases the threat to Israel's home front. In the past, every laboratory in Gaza was in danger of attack by the IDF, but now, since the IDF is not attacking, they are smuggling raw material and producing [the rockets] locally. This produces greater accuracy and a longer shelf-life for every rocket."
Can't see the video? Click here to see PA terrorists prepare their rockets.
In late 2006, a Military Intelligence analysis indicated that Hamas was developing weapons to use against Israeli fighter planes and, eventually, against civilian aircraft. Brig.-Gen. Baidatz said at the time that Israel must come up with a solution to protect its planes from the new weapons, or else imperil its entire aviation industry. Such weapons in Judea and Samaria would endanger air traffic at Ben-Gurion International Airport.