Wagner To Give Air Defense System To Iran-Backed Hezbollah

A man looks on, as Hezbollah supporters protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 27, 2023.
A man looks on, as Hezbollah supporters protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 27, 2023.

The US has intelligence that Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah with an air defense system.

The Wall Street Journal cited unidentified US officials as saying that Wagner plans to supply the Pantsir-S1 system, known by NATO as the SA-22, which uses anti-aircraft missiles and air-defense guns to intercept aircraft.

Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been brought firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny by its former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in June, did not reply to a request for comment from Reuters.

One unidentified US official quoted by the Journal said that Washington had not confirmed that the system had been sent. But US officials are monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah, the Journal said.

The Journal said that the Pantsir system would be provided to Hezbollah via Syria, where Russia propped up President Bashar al-Assad by entering the civil war there in 2015.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards founded Hezbollah in 1982, in the middle of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. It was part of Iran's effort to export its 1979 Islamic Revolution around the region and fight Israeli forces after their 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza declared war on Israel on October 7.

(Reporting by Reuters)