Israel: Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack

Associated Press ^ | Jul 15, 2006 | MATT MOORE

[george76]

A missile fired by Hezbollah, not an unmanned drone laden with explosives, damaged an Israeli warship off Lebanon, the army said Saturday.

Elite Iranian troops helped fire the missile...

One sailor was killed and three were missing.

The intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said about 100 Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon and helped fire the Iranian-made, radar-guided C-102 at the ship late Friday.

The official added that the troops involved in firing the missile are from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite corps of more than 200,000 fighters that is independent of the regular armed forces and controlled directly by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Initial information indicated the guerrillas had used a drone for the first time to attack Israeli forces.

But the army's investigation showed that Hezbollah had fired an Iranian-made missile at the vessel from the shores of Lebanon, said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan.

"We can confirm that it was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah,"...

[dodger]

'Elite', hmmm, where've we heard that before. Rather like 'Holy City', a term of loose application among the Mohammedans.

[wyattearp]

You're saying that each missle is unique in its flight characteristics and the Israeli navy reviewed the radar (I assume) log of the attack and pulled a missile "fingerprint" from that?

The missle is radar-guided. The specific characteristics of that radar is the "fingerprint".

[george76]

Three Patriot anti-missile missile systems deployed in Haifa. Tiberias hit by a second Hizballah rocket barrage amid heavy damage from first

Five people injured in the earlier five-rocket volley.

Our military sources doubt whether the Patriots, positioned in an Israeli city for the first time in three years, are much effective against Hizballah rockets.

Their deployment may be intended as a morale booster.

The last time they were brought out for the US invasion of Iraq, to guard against another missile attack by Saddam Hussein.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=2886

[wyattearp]

You're saying that each missle is unique in its flight characteristics and the Israeli navy reviewed the radar (I assume) log of the attack and pulled a missile "fingerprint" from that?

The missle is radar-guided. The specific characteristics of that radar is the "fingerprint".

[wyattearp]

Dang. I hate it when the double-post thing happens.

[spall]

The terminal guidance radar with monopulse system possesses high anti-jamming capabilities. The high precision radio altimeter allows the missile to have minimum-altitude flight above the sea. It uses a semi-armor-piercing anti-personnel blast warhead which relies on the missile's kinetic energy to pierce the deck of a ship, penetrate into and explode in the ship's interior. During final design flight tests, one missile attacked and sank a target ship with displacement of 10,000 tons.

Looks like the Iranians and Chinese are gauging the effectiveness of their toys in case they are needing in the Persian Gulf or Sea of Japan.

[The Lion Roars]

Look at the photo at the top of the post. If the missile truly was a C-802, it's not hard to see why the ship was hit. They're so close to the beach they have about 2 seconds reaction time.

That is an even worse excuse for the Israeli Navy. Why were they were soo close that the Barak and the CIWS didnt even have sufficient response time? This is a warning for us too.

[sionnsar]

DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal:

When I see "Debka" and "sources" in the same sentence the first thing that comes to mind is "pure fiction."

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

Take the last 6 years...and see where we are now...

All I am trying to say, is that they cannot stop now, it will only get worse if they do. It is not enough to stop at Lebanon/Syrian border.

[spall]

needing = needed

[gafusa]

Agreed. Israel should be more careful. They walked right into that one. The were way to close to the shore, and had there undefended stern exposed. The Israeli ships can only intercept missiles from forward, the weapons are mounted on the bow only. Unlike the larger and more advanced US air/missiles defense equipped vessels, they do not have 360 degree capability. Frankly Israel needs major work on their Navy. Tiny and light ships like the Saar are not enough. And only 3 tiny German subs? They really need to beef up their naval equipment. We should begin producing diesel electric subs, reviving the Barbel class has been proposed. Huge market, especially from Israel and Taiwan, who have difficulty getting them from the Europeans afraid they might offend the Chinazis or Muslims.

[GonzoGOP]

Also remember the ship didn't sink. There are bound to be fragments of the missile all over the ship. A torn off fin, parts of the small turbojet engine would be a dead give away. Even the size and shape of the blast and chemical residue from the warhead would give you a good idea what is was. A tiny fragment of the body would give you the diameter, limiting it to a few possible missiles.

That and one of the missiles missed so they may have gotten a good look at that one.

Finally once you fire a missile the launcher is visible. If you look at the launcher you can usually tell what it was that it launched.

[george76]

Is this related ?

Greece is preparing to deploy its new Roussen-class fast strike craft to a NATO mission for the first time.

HS Daniolos, the second ship of the class, is expected to join Operation 'Active Endeavour', NATO's maritime counter-terrorism mission in the eastern Mediterranean, towards the end of July for a 15-day patrol. First-of-class HS Roussen will follow its sister ship to participate in the operation.

Built by prime contractor Elefsis Shipyards in partnership with the UK's VT Shipbuilding to the latter's 62 m SuperVita design, the Roussen-class vessels are intended to replace the bulk of the Hellenic Navy's current Combattante III fast attack craft over the longer term.

http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/jni/jni060714_1_n.shtml

[Polybius]

The Saar 5 vessel is Israel's remier air defense naval craft. It was designed specfically for this type of engagement...and it was defeated. It has two 32 cell Barak missile launchers, Phalanx........

Inexplicably, the Saar 5 has only one Phalanx CIWS........and it is mounted on the bow leaving the stern totally unprotected by Phalanx.

The missile struck the stern.

Depending on how close to shore the ship was when it was hit, the vertically launched Barak system may not have had enough lead time to engage.

In any war, all services want a piece of the action. Be that as it may, sending a high value naval squadron to shell land targets that could be hit by air power is not a wise use of high value resources.

Naval surface warfare does best against other surface warfare forces in a blue water environment and does poorly against land based air power and land based missiles that operate from what is, in effect, a giant, unsinkable carrier.

[gafusa]

The patriot is great against ballistic missiles, but is in no way designed to shoot down those type of small b-los rockets.

[george76]

With satelite technology, can we see the launch site ?

[R.W.Ratikal]

Let's face it. You're not a great military threat if you need Iran to help you strike a match and light the fuze.

[hgro]

Looks like Col. North was a bit off the reservation in his analysis. He needs better advisors.

[GonzoGOP]

With satelite technology, can we see the launch site ?

Possibly, but they were so close to shore that the captain of the Israeli ship with a pair of binoculars surely could. I mean when someone blows the back of your ship off there is a natural instinct to see what just did that. If only to be sure that missiles 3 and 4 are not on the way to finish the job.

[R.W.Ratikal]

You are right on target. Since the days of wooden sailing ships right up to today it's unwise to send ships against land forces. It's asking for trouble.