Hezbollah getting its hands on such weapons is a "red line" for the Israelis, whose jets and surveillance drones violate Lebanese air space just about every day despite international protests.

While there has been no independent confirmation that Hezbollah has received chemical arms or that the Lebanese army is about to receive Iranians missiles, the reports have heightened tension in a region where both sides are braced for conflict.

Hezbollah has maintained an ambiguous silence about the report it has had chemical weapons since December 2008, which have been reportedly stored in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, Hezbollah's heartland, and in the south, the main zone of conflict with Israel.

That report was published Thursday by Kuwait's al-Seyasseh newspaper, which opposes the Shiite organization and its mentors, Iran and Syria.

The daily quoted unnamed Western intelligence sources as saying that a suspected Hezbollah arms dump in the southern village of Khirbet Selim that blew up under mysterious circumstances July 14 contained chemical arms.

At least three Hezbollah members died from chemical contamination caused by the explosion, the sources were quoted as saying.

Al-Seyasseh reported that U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon found traces of chemical residue in soil samples taken from the site.

The U.N. force has made no comment. But the Israelis have long suspected that Hezbollah, heavily outnumbered and outgunned by Israel's military, was seeking to acquire chemical weapons, as well as air-defense missiles to challenge Israel's long-held aerial dominance.

Despite the alarming reports, Israeli analysts were skeptical that Hezbollah would actually use chemical weapons against the Jewish state.

"Chemical weapons are a doomsday weapon and I don't think Hezbollah will go there," Mordechai Kedar of Tel Aviv's Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies told Israel's Media Line agency.

"I can't see them using chemical weapons against Israel because that would be the end of them. Their objective is to create a state, not eradicate Israel. So the war against Israel is merely a means, not an aim in itself."

It should be noted, however, that Hezbollah calls for the destruction of Israel and the "liberation" of Jerusalem.

Its fighters have conducted suicide attacks in the past and are prepared to do so again. But if Hezbollah used chemical weapons against Israel or its military, that would provoke massive retaliation that could devastate tiny Lebanon.

Meantime, Beirut newspapers reported that the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital had consulted the Lebanese military about its arms requirements.

The army command reportedly responded that it needed effective air-defense systems. At present it only has obsolete Soviet-era anti-aircraft guns, 23mm and 50mm, that have no radar or fire-control and are totally ineffective against the marauding Israeli jets.

Up to now, the United States -- and France to a lesser extent -- has provided Lebanon's military with equipment worth some $400 million. But this has been largely non-lethal and has not bolstered the army's capabilities to the point it could take on Israel's military with an expectation of success.

The Israelis believe that if Iran supplied Lebanon's military with surface-to-air missiles, these would inevitably end up in Hezbollah's hands. The vast majority of the 53,000-strong army is Shiite.

The timing of the reported Iranian offer may be linked to a recent statement by Lebanon's prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, that he would include Hezbollah in his new government he is seeking to form following June 7 elections.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned that if Hezbollah joins Lebanon's government, Hariri's Cabinet would be held responsible for any future attack on Israel and the entire country would suffer the consequences.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in July and August 2006 that ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire. During the conflict, in which Hezbollah fired some 4,000 rockets into the Jewish state, Israeli warplanes blasted Hezbollah strongholds and Shiite centers daily.

They destroyed some bridges and roads, but generally did not attack non-Shiite targets.

related report
Israel not wary of MiG sale to Syria
At least four MiG warplanes that Russia is set to deliver to Syria lack offensive capabilities, allaying concerns among the military brass in Tel Aviv, Israeli news reports said Tuesday.

The reports follow recent confirmation by Russia of a 2007 contract with Syria for the potential sale of MiG-31E fighters to Syria.

The aircraft, code-named Foxhound, can fly three times the speed of sound and engage several targets at a range of up to 110 miles simultaneously.

None of the planes has been delivered because work on the jet fighters at United Aircraft's Sokol plant in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod had been suspended because of strenuous objections by Israel and lack of funds by Damascus.

Still, the Jerusalem Post reported this week, the four MiG-31E fighter jets that will be sent to Syria will be used for intelligence-gathering purposes only.

Citing undisclosed sources from Russia, the newspaper said that "two of the planes would be operational and the other two would be purchased for 'cannibalization' purposes."

That means the aircraft would be used for "spare parts."

Shrouded in secrecy and ambiguity for years, the MiG contract is estimated at between $400 million and $500 million.

Reports of the deal first emerged in 2007, but they were quickly rebuffed by Moscow and the state's arms-trading monopoly, Rosoboronexport, which claimed it had no intentions of delivering the warplanes to Syria.

Earlier this year, however, the former head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency confirmed the existence of a deal during Senate testimony, saying that the deal had in fact been signed between Moscow and Damascus and that Syria was set to take delivery of jets "in the near future," the Jerusalem Post reported.

Even so, concerns in Israel were quickly allayed because of the MiGs' lack of offensive capabilities.

"Due to its ability to fly fast and at high altitudes, it is suitable for gathering intelligence but does not maneuver well at lower altitudes," the report said quoting Yiftah Shapir, head of the Middle East Military Balance project at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Syria's arming of MiG-31E warplanes would afford it greater ability to intercept Israeli aircraft en route to Iran, its ally.

It is not clear whether the reported sale of Russian warplanes to Syria would include the MiG-29, the advance version of the MiG-31E.

Defense officials in Israel warn that the MiG-29s can function as interceptors and bombers.

The multimillion-dollar contract marks Syria's first purchase of fighter aircraft in more than 20 years.

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