Israel: Long-range missile destroyed (Iranian)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/17/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

JERUSALEM - An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

During nearly a week of fighting, Hezbollah militants have fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel. But officials have raised concerns the guerrilla group could strike Tel Aviv, about 80 miles south of the border with Lebanon.

[LonePalm]

Cool. Pictures?

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[SE Mom]

HOOAH! :)

[GSlob]

Must have been quite a firework, with all that solid fuel in 1-ton rocket.

[elhombrelibre]

Nice work. The IDF must have some very good intel.

[PajamaTruthMafia]

Is this the explosion Hez tried to claim was an Israeli jet being downed?

[paulcissa]

IDF has brought intel-gathering to an art form.

[finnman69]

Probably this thing.

http://www.meib.org/articles/0211_l2.htm

Last month, the London Sunday Times reported that Iran has deployed Zelzal-2 "ballistic missiles" in Lebanon, capable of "carrying half a ton of chemical or conventional warheads as far as Tel Aviv."9 However, the paper's sensationalist reporting on Mideast military topics does not have a very accurate track record, particularly when it cites unnamed defense sources. The Zelzal-2, in any case, is not a missile, but a 610mm heavy artillery rocket with a 1323 lb (600 kg) payload and range of 130 miles (210 km). The rocket wouldn't quite be able to hit Tel Aviv unless launched from easily-detectable positions straddling the border, but would nevertheless pose an enormous threat to Israeli population centers.

[madison10]

IDF has brought intel-gathering to an art form.

Israeli-types have been doing intel-gathering for a VERY, VERY long time. See Jericho. ;)

[manic4organic]

Any Patriot missiles shooting down the muzzie missiles?

[Publius6961]

Israel was among the first to use UAVs for surveillance and field targetting... Why aren't they being used by the dozens to identify the relatively narrow strip from which these missiles must be launched?
And then there's satellite imagery. I am sure Israel has at least one spy satellite.
Why can't all these missile supplies in Lebanon be taken out one at a time?

[elhombrelibre]

No doubt the missiles are hidden amongst the civilian population in buildings and away from oversight.

[samadams2000]

Israel should state live on the tely that they are getting intelligence from inside the Lebanese government as to the whereabouts of Hezzbollah. That would create a lot of good clean fun amonst the islaminals.

[NormsRevenge]

They are deployed , not sure if they have been used much if at all, a lot of these rockets are fairly small, the odds of nailing them is pretty low. something this size, would be a lot easier to strike.

[tessalu]

May God bless Israel, and tenderly care for all of the people there. In God we can trust, foever.

[txhurl]

I'm surprised some wiseguy hasn't lobbed any WMD yet. And relieved, of course.

[MediaMole]

Most of the rockets are small enough to be put on a small trailer or in a pickup truck. They can be hidden in barns, garages, hospitals or elementary schools.

Ground troops going house to house, are the only real way to ferret out the smaller missiles.

[airborne]

I keep hearing accounts of the number of people killed so far, and when mentioning Lebanon, the media says,for example, "123 killed, mostly civilian".

How can you tell the difference between a Hizbolla terrorist and a civilian?

[finnman69]

BTW

The Zelzal-2 likely can carry bio chem warheads

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/zelzal-2.htm

Clearly this is not somehomehob Katyusha rocket, but a huge vehicle transported weapon.

[finnman69]

Another amazing demonstration of the weakness of the Lebanese government.

Hezbollah can drive these rocket transporter/erectors around without interference from the Lebanese military.