<p>The Israeli army on Thursday accused Iran of collaborating with Lebanon's Hezbollah to assemble precision-guided missiles that could cause "massive" human casualties in Israel.</p>.<p>Tehran and the Shiite movement plan to convert "stupid rockets into precision-guided missiles", Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists in a conference call.</p>.<p>He said Iran had tried between 2013 and 2015 to transport precision-guided missiles to Hezbollah through war-torn Syria, where both back the Damascus regime.</p>.<p>But that strategy failed due to "Israeli operations", said the army, without elaborating.</p>.<p>Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.</p>.<p>Conricus said that in 2016, "Iran and Hezbollah changed their strategy... (to one of converting) existing rockets into precision-guided" projectiles.</p>.<p>He accused Tehran of planning to smuggle in the required components.</p>.<p>Conricus estimated that Hezbollah currently has some 130,000 rockets, an arsenal he said does not by itself amount to "accurate" weaponry, even if such projectiles constitute a "threat".</p>.<p>"However if they are able to produce a precision-guided arsenal... that will create a different and much more dangerous situation," he added.</p>.<p>Conricus accused Hezbollah of being "willing to strike civilians and strategic facilities... in order to create a massive amount of casualties and damage in Israel".</p>.<p>"Hezbollah does not yet have an industrial capability to manufacture precision guided missiles" but continues to work towards that goal, he added.</p>.<p>The allegations come after Hezbollah -- with which Israel has fought several wars -- accused the Jewish state of carrying out a drone attack Sunday on its Beirut stronghold.</p>.<p>Israel's military did not confirm whether it was behind the weekend attack, which saw one drone explode and another crash without detonating.</p>.<p>The Shiite movement's chief Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that an armed drone had "hit a specific area," without elaborating.</p>.<p>According to the UK's Times newspaper, the drones fell near Iranian installations manufacturing a fuel used by precision missiles.</p>.<p>The Beirut attack came after Israel on Saturday launched strikes in neighbouring Syria, saying it was to prevent an Iranian attack on the Jewish state.</p>.<p>The Israeli army said that Mohammed Hussein-Zada Jejazi -- head of the Lebanese branch of the Quds Force -- was the mastermind of the alleged Iranian-Hezbollah missile plot.</p>.<p>The Quds Force is an elite organisation that runs the external operations of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.</p>.<p>The Israeli army also released a photo that it said showed Jejazi.</p>.<p>It accused Lebanese citizen Fouad Shokr -- a high-ranking Hezbollah commander -- and two other Iranians, Majid Nua and Ali Asrar Nuruzi, of also being involved.</p>.<p>Israel's military said Majid Nua was an engineer with specialist knowledge of surface-to-surface missiles.</p>.<p>Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel was "determined to stop our enemies from possessing destructive arms."</p>.<p>"Today I tell them: 'dirbalak'," he said -- Arabic for "be careful".</p>
<p>The Israeli army on Thursday accused Iran of collaborating with Lebanon's Hezbollah to assemble precision-guided missiles that could cause "massive" human casualties in Israel.</p>.<p>Tehran and the Shiite movement plan to convert "stupid rockets into precision-guided missiles", Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists in a conference call.</p>.<p>He said Iran had tried between 2013 and 2015 to transport precision-guided missiles to Hezbollah through war-torn Syria, where both back the Damascus regime.</p>.<p>But that strategy failed due to "Israeli operations", said the army, without elaborating.</p>.<p>Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.</p>.<p>Conricus said that in 2016, "Iran and Hezbollah changed their strategy... (to one of converting) existing rockets into precision-guided" projectiles.</p>.<p>He accused Tehran of planning to smuggle in the required components.</p>.<p>Conricus estimated that Hezbollah currently has some 130,000 rockets, an arsenal he said does not by itself amount to "accurate" weaponry, even if such projectiles constitute a "threat".</p>.<p>"However if they are able to produce a precision-guided arsenal... that will create a different and much more dangerous situation," he added.</p>.<p>Conricus accused Hezbollah of being "willing to strike civilians and strategic facilities... in order to create a massive amount of casualties and damage in Israel".</p>.<p>"Hezbollah does not yet have an industrial capability to manufacture precision guided missiles" but continues to work towards that goal, he added.</p>.<p>The allegations come after Hezbollah -- with which Israel has fought several wars -- accused the Jewish state of carrying out a drone attack Sunday on its Beirut stronghold.</p>.<p>Israel's military did not confirm whether it was behind the weekend attack, which saw one drone explode and another crash without detonating.</p>.<p>The Shiite movement's chief Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that an armed drone had "hit a specific area," without elaborating.</p>.<p>According to the UK's Times newspaper, the drones fell near Iranian installations manufacturing a fuel used by precision missiles.</p>.<p>The Beirut attack came after Israel on Saturday launched strikes in neighbouring Syria, saying it was to prevent an Iranian attack on the Jewish state.</p>.<p>The Israeli army said that Mohammed Hussein-Zada Jejazi -- head of the Lebanese branch of the Quds Force -- was the mastermind of the alleged Iranian-Hezbollah missile plot.</p>.<p>The Quds Force is an elite organisation that runs the external operations of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.</p>.<p>The Israeli army also released a photo that it said showed Jejazi.</p>.<p>It accused Lebanese citizen Fouad Shokr -- a high-ranking Hezbollah commander -- and two other Iranians, Majid Nua and Ali Asrar Nuruzi, of also being involved.</p>.<p>Israel's military said Majid Nua was an engineer with specialist knowledge of surface-to-surface missiles.</p>.<p>Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel was "determined to stop our enemies from possessing destructive arms."</p>.<p>"Today I tell them: 'dirbalak'," he said -- Arabic for "be careful".</p>