The Hezbollah Biological Warfare Threat to UN Peacekeepers and Israel

By Jerry Gordon, New English Review

Yesterday, news broke about an alleged Chemical Warfare (CW) attack in Syria. There were cross allegations between Syrian opposition and the Assad Regime. Russia accused the rebels of perpetrating the event, while as the day progressed there wasn’t clear evidence as to which side in the more than two year conflict was the perpetrator.

President Obama in White House Press room remarks also drew attention to the potential threat of Biological Warfare (BW). That is a concerning topic Dr. Jill Bellamy van Aalst, noted international expert and NATO consultant on BW threat reduction, addressed in an op-ed article, “Hezbollah Biological Threat to UN Peacekeepers.”.

Our interviews with Dr. Bellamy van Aalst in both 2007 and in 2013 New English Review articles on the Syrian Biological Threat have been prescient.

An op ed co-authored by her on the Iranian, Syrian BW nexus appeared in the Jerusalem Post this January. Her article on the Hezbollah biological weapons threat to the EU was published earlier this month in the English edition of Copenhagen-based Dispatch International. Clearly her expertise and warnings on BW transferred by Syria and Iran to Hezbollah are gaining attention in the international media. Note this comment from her Israel Hayom article: This could put down an entire battalion and severely affect an operational theater. It could create a window of opportunity either to collect intelligence or engage in operations to prepare the groundwork for a second conventional strike on those forces or for a wider conflict.

In the US the reactions to the reports of a possible CW attack in Syria were used by Congressional supporters of providing kinetic aid to the Syrian opposition. President Obama, prior to his departure for a visit to Israel warned about crossing “red lines” in use of non-conventional weapons in the Syrian conflict.