Iran may use Syria earthquake to smuggle arms under the guise of aid: report
Israel has reportedly taken a preemptive tone this week and warned Iran that it will strike any arms shipment traveling to Syria under the guise of international aid after a catastrophic earthquake hit Turkey and Syria this week.
Rescue workers are still pulling people trapped under rubble as international aid continues to pour in. An estimate 22,000 people have been killed since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region four days ago, according to reports Friday.
However, the crisis has Israeli security officials concerned that Iran will use the devastating event to funnel arms to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which it has backed since its inception in the early 1980s.
"There is information indicating that Iran will take advantage of the tragic situation in Syria and, under the cover of humanitarian aid, will send weapons and equipment to Hezbollah," one anonymous Israeli military official told the Saudi newspaper Elaph Wednesday.
The unnamed official reportedly told the publication that Israel stands "ready to strike any equipment or weapons anywhere inside Syrian territory."
Fox News Digital could not independently verify whether Iran has taken steps to funnel arms into Syria under the guise of aid, though one reporter for the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation took to Twitter to post a video Thursday of "pro-Iranian militias in Iraq" traveling in a convoy to deliver "aid…to the victims of the earthquake in Syria."
In a separate video Friday, the reporter posted footage of a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, who was allegedly spotted in the western Syrian city of Latakia "to monitor aid to earthquake victims."
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A devastating earthquake hit Syria on Feb. 6. (AP Photo
Treasure trove of Thatcher belongings found in storage unit
Items belonging to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, including rare art and personal items, have emerged for sale at auction after an unnamed landfill worker saved them from a storage unit.
"The exact circumstances of how these items came to be thrown away are unknown, although it is typical for storage companies to dispose of the contents of units when accounts are closed," Mark Wilkinson, an auctioneer at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers in Essex, England, said of the collection.
"There are some historic objects in the collection, items that point towards some of the important relationships and events in Margaret Thatcher's tenure as the PM."
The rare collection of art pieces and personal belongings is a 22-inch tall bronze plaster bust of President Ronald Reagan, who had a close friendship with Thatcher during their overlapping administrations.
Reagan may have presented the bust to her as a gift during her state visit to the U.S. following the end of the Falklands War in 1982. The statue bore an "indistinct" signature and was dated "-82."
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