(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - Tension on Israel's northern border remains high after Western intelligence agencies spotted the Syrian effort (encouraged and funded by Iran) to equip Hizbullah with Scud missiles. Lebanon and Syria fear that Israel would not accept the presence of heavy ballistic missiles in Hizbullah's hands and will take offensive military action to lift the threat against its home front. This marks the first time in history where a sovereign state hands over heavy ballistic missiles to an armed militia and even trains its members to use them. Yet at this time Israel has no intention of striking in Lebanon or Syria. Hizbullah has already accumulated and prepared for action roughly 45,000 rockets and missiles in fortified and camouflaged shelters, including a few hundred heavy rockets and missiles with a range that can hit every populated area in Israel. Some of them are even more dangerous than Scud missiles because they're more accurate. However, because of the Scud's long range, they can be deployed in northern Lebanon far from the Israeli border, making it harder for Israel to target them. On the other hand, the liquid-fuel Scuds require about 30 minutes of fueling to prepare for launching, during which time the missile is vulnerable to attack, unlike Hizbullah's other, solid-fuel rockets which can be launched within minutes.
2010-04-29 08:42:36Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive