No surprises, China>>Iran, North Korea>>Hizballah

U.S. report: North Korea apparently supplying Iran-backed group
WASHINGTON — The United States believes North Korea has become a major supplier to the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. The U.S. Congress raised the prospect that North Korea was providing weapons, technical assistance and military training to Hizbullah. The Congressional Research Service cited reputable sources that Pyongyang equipped Hizbullah with missiles and rockets used during the war against Israel in 2006.

CRS, which provides independent analysis to Congress, discussed the purported North Korean aid to Hizbullah amid plans by the Bush administration to remove Pyongyang from the State Department list of terrorist sponsors.

"Questions about the credibility of the claim are relevant in view of the appearance of reports from reputable sources that North Korea has provided arms and possibly training to Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka," the CRS report said.

Pyongyang was also said to have helped install hundreds of remote-controlled underground 122 mm Katyusha rocket launchers throughout southern Lebanon. The network enabled Hizbullah to elevate a Katyusha launcher from a bunker via hydraulic lift, fire a salvo of rockets and then return underground.

"This significantly improved Hizbullah's ability to fight the Israelis," CRS said.

Hizbullah has been on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. The State Department has asserted that North Korea ended its sponsorship of terrorist groups more than 20 years ago.

These State Dept weenies just seem to pop up, every time people who wish us ill need a break.

China supplied the technology for Iran's first solid-fuel missile

JERUSALEM — Iran has developed its first intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile. Israeli intelligence sources said Iran has developed a solid-fuel missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers.

The intelligence sources said Iran acquired solid-fuel technology from China. In 2002, Iran developed the Fateh-110 single-stage solid-propellant, surface-to-surface missile with a range of 200 kilometers Iran has also reported the development of a supercomputer for dual-use applications. The semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the computer contained 216 AMD processors and a "theoretical peak performance of 860 gig-flops."

The sources said the Ashoura missile, similar in range to the Shihab-3, would enable Iran to rapidly prepare an attack against Israel.

"This is a major development and exceeds the achievement of Shihab-3," an intelligence source said.

The sources said the liquid-fuel Shihab-3 required up to 14 hours of launch preparations. In contrast, Ashoura could be stored with its solid fuel and taken directly from the warehouse to the launcher.

And here I was blaming the russkies with the BM-25