Posted on 07/23/2007 10:05:12 AM PDT by Nachum
(IsraelNN.com) Syria sees the next war with Israel as involving missile attacks on civilian infrastructure and front-line guerilla warfare, an anonymous senior official in the Syrian Ministry of Defense told Defense News Weekly, in an interview appearing Monday. Syria prefers to avoid a direct, "classic" confrontation with Israel, he said. Instead, the next war will involve Katyusha rocket and ballistic missiles that will target strategic points in Israel, especially civilian infrastructure.
The official said that the war will not be limited to a single strike, but will be protracted in nature. "This will be a war of attrition, which the Israelis are not good at," he explained. The conflict, he said, "will be more like a war between cities than a war on the battlefield."
According to Arab affairs expert Dr. Guy Bechor, the Syrian assessment is a result of the Second Lebanon War. After that war the Syrians understood that they do not need a large ground force to defeat Israel, but rather missiles aimed at dense Israeli population centers. For the past two years the Syrians have been engaged in massive acquisitions from Russia, after an $11 billion debt was partially forgiven by Russia in 2005, and partially covered by Iran.
Following the unimpressive performance by the IDF in last year’s war, Bechor explains, Syria beg The conflict, he said, will be more like a war between cities than a war on the battlefield. an equipping itself with advanced anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and cruise missiles.
The Syrian army numbers 650,000 soldiers, including 354,000 reservists, according to Defense News. Its tanks are outdated Soviet models, however, and its air force is inferior to Israel's.
The London-based daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat recently reported that Syria has deployed Chinese C-802 cruise missiles, which it acquired from Iran. In addition, Russia has expressed its willingness to sell the Syrians its Iskander missile, which has a range of 280 kilometers, more than enough to strike at any destination in Israel. The missile features an optical GPS navigational system that allows operators to guide it to their targets.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat also reported Saturday that Iran secretly promised Syria it would provide $1 billion for buying advanced weapons and assist it with nuclear research and the development of chemical weapons, in exchange for a Syrian promise not to negotiate peace with Israel. However, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the report as a "media game" and asked how the media could know about the deal if it was confidential.
Arab affairs experts also questioned the veracity of the report, noting that it was written by an exiled Iranian who may simply have wanted to portray Iran's leadership in a bad light.
If Syria begins a war of attrition, they will find themselves in nuclear hell. I for one believe Israel has the will to use nuclear weapons in defense of their right to exist.
Weather Report for Syria:
Winds: 790mph
Temp: 2,567F
Very Humid: Radiation does retaain that water vapor!
I say we “cruise missle” the hell out of Syria now ...
It’s time for Israel to unlaod everything that they have and decapitate every friggin head with a rag on it. The fun and games are over.
Semper F’
Jarhead
Israel has God...all they need
They're forgetting (or the author is too ignorant) that the Israelis performed poorly in Lebanon because they were trying to *minimize* civilian casualites (as are we).
If Syria attacks cities with missles, and I'm not talking about these single Katyushas being fired willy-nilly, it will give Israel the pretext needed to destroy Damascus.
Isn’t today supposed to be the big day?
Israel: "The same way."
Media: "Israeli warmongers threaten Middle East peace process."
Guess Syria doesn’t remember the 6 day war too well? Israel is attacked by most of her neighbors and its over in 6 days! Don’t mess with the maker’s team - you’ll lose every time...God chose Israel - game, set, match whether you like it or not. The final outcome is already in the book!
Guess he believes that Israel will fight the war the way the Syrians want it fought...
Ah! Thanks for the reminder!
I’m hoping today is NOT the day, FWIW....
yep ur right...u’d think these people would know by now...even though these are all God’s children...his children of Israel are chosen...
The Syrians have a not so secret weapon - Olmert. The Israelis need new leadership before any new major conflict IMO.
God chose Israel but He never slew their enemies...He made them do that themselves. The problem today is that they may not have the will to fight this kind of a war. As long as Olmert stays in power I fear for Israel. He should have rolled up Hezbollah in a couple of weeks last year but lacked the nerve to turn the IDF loose on their enemies.
...” “This will be a war of attrition, which the Israelis are not good at,” he explained. The conflict, he said, “will be more like a war between cities than a war on the battlefield.”...
What this fool does not understand is that should the Syria military rain missiles upon Israeli civilians, Syria will be attrited - using tactical nuclear weapons and neutron weapons.
It really sounds like Syria thinks Israel will not strike back. The last 20 years has taught them that Arabs can strike Israel while Israel will hold its punches in response. However, I think once you start targeting cities with ballistic missiles, all bets are off. At least they should be off—hopefully, even a fool like Olmert will respond.
If they agree to let Him go in first.
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