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U.S. Concerned Russia’s Wagner Group Could Send Air Defenses to Hezbollah: Report

The Russian SA-22 system the mercenary group reportedly plans to send includes antiaircraft missiles and air-defense guns.

The Wagner Group, the notorious Russian mercenary organization, may be circling a plan to send an air-defense system to Hezbollah as it engages in fierce clashes along the border it shares with Israel, according to The Wall Street Journal. Intelligence collected by the U.S. has not suggested that the system, an SA-22, has been sent to the Lebanese militia, but officials monitoring conversations between the two groups have characterized potential delivery as what the Journal called a “major concern.” Hezbollah has thus far appeared reluctant to involve itself in a full-scale war, but the system—which uses both antiaircraft missiles and air-defense guns—could lead it to reconsider opening a northern front. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is expected to speak publicly on Friday, his first remarks since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas. That speech, the Journal reported, may indicate whether or not Hezbollah plans to fully enter the conflict.