Posted on 07/18/2006 2:16:56 PM PDT by mojito
Although Hizbullah has suffered a harsh blow from Israeli air force strikes which took out a good percentage of their available weapons, Syria was continuing to smuggle arms into Lebanon to rearm the group, IDF Operations Branch Head Major General Gadi Eisenkot said during a press briefing Tuesday.
Thus far, the IAF managed to intercept a number of trucks transporting rockets from Syria to Hizbullah, including trucks laden with the 20mm-diameter rockets with warheads like the one that hit the Haifa train depot Monday, claiming eight lives. Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said he would be very surprised if official elements in Syria were unaware of these transports.
“These are rockets that belong to the Syrian army. You can’t find them in the Damascus market, and the Syrian government is responsible for this smuggling,” Eisenkot said, but stressed, “We are not operating against Syria or the Lebanese army.”
During the briefing, Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said the IDF has hit over 1,000 targets, 180 of them Katyusha and rocket storage sites and 350 launch sites. Over 250 missile strikes were carried out with the aim of blocking traffic arteries, and 200 buildings used by Hizbullah were hit. According to Eisenkot, Israel’s offensive would continue without time limitations.
“With that, we always operate under the principle of a short fighting period. In the short term, this is a complicated reality for civilians too, but in the long term this operation holds great importance for all of us,” he noted. He added that senior Hizbullah leaders were hiding out in underground bunkers. “We struck a number of mid-level operatives in the organization, and not in the numbers we wished, but our energies have been aimed at taking out weapons stores and rocket launchers,” he said.
At the briefing, IAF Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Eshel presented footage of an army aircraft scoring a direct hit on a truck laden with rockets, and noted that the truck was disguised as a civilian vehicle in order not to be identified.
“We are faced with very complex operations here, which demand excellent intelligence information. To thwart this, we are blocking the Lebanon-Syria border, and warplanes are constantly flying over the area,” he said. He noted that as time passes, the air force was becoming familiar with the enemy and its operations were therefore becoming more sophisticated and efficient.
The IDF was continuing to destroy Hizbullah bases within one kilometer of the border that were built over the past six years since the army withdrew from Lebanon. Residents of southern Lebanese villages, where rockets were being fired from, had been asked to leave the area, officials noted at the briefing.
Syria is fully committed to expanding and improving its CW program, which it believes serves as a deterrent to regional adversaries. Syria continues active chemical munitions testing, although it has not used chemical agents in any conflicts. Although Syria is more self-sufficient than most other third-world CW capable states, foreign assistance has been a key element in the establishment and operation of Syria’s CW program. In particular, Syria remains heavily dependent on foreign sources for key elements of its chemical warfare program, including precursor chemicals and key production equipment. As a result Syria will need to continue foreign procurement activities—something the PSI is designed to counter—in order to continue its CW program. Syria is not a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Biological
We believe that Syria is continuing to develop an offensive biological weapons capability. Syria has signed, but not ratified, the Biological Weapons Convention. These “poor man’s nuclear weapons” do not require a large production capability, and depending on the agent and dissemination method, can be extremely lethal.
Missiles
Syria has a combined total of several hundred Scud and SS-21 SRBMs, and is believed to have chemical warheads available for a portion of its Scud missile force. Syria has also developed a longer-range missile—the Scud D—with assistance from North Korea. Syria’s missiles are mobile and can reach much of Israel from positions near their peacetime garrisons and portions of Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey from launch sites well within the country. Damascus is pursuing both solid- and liquid-propellant missile programs and relies extensively on foreign assistance in these endeavors. North Korean and Iranian entities have been most prominent in aiding Syria’s recent ballistic missile development. Syrian regional concerns may lead Damascus to seek a longer range ballistic missile capability such as North Korea’s No Dong MRBM.
Testimony of John R. Bolton, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security before the House International Relations Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia September 16, 2003
I think they left out a 2 it should have been 220 mm. rockets.
This is solid proof of Syria's involvement. Israel would be completely justified in attacking Syria now.
The 9P140 Uragan ('hurricane'), known as the BM-27 began its service with the Soviet army in the late 1970s as its first modern spin and fin stabilized heavy multiple rocket launcher. This system is capable of launching 220mm rockets from 16 launch tubes mounted on the rear of a ZIL-135 8 by 8 chassis.
Different cultures; different perspectives.
Syria is a merchant nation. It makes its money from caravans that pass through it (often smuggling). It has no oil.
Arabs would view attacking Syria over the issue of caravans destined for Hezbollah in the same way that a Western mind would view bombing New York City if a U.S. bank facilitated a wire transfer of money to Al Qaeda.
Different cultures. Different perspectives.
So no one is going to go to war over wire transfers or merchant caravans.
Syria may have to be punished, punished quite severely, I hope.
What Israel should do (and what the US should do more often) is just send weapons into Syria as well. The Kurd resistance for example could probably use some small missiles of their own.
The Iranian resistance should also get some really good weapons support from the US.
Tit for Tat.
That's what the patriots are for then... ugh.
Patriot missiles...
I don't know how you can glibly dismiss this as a "merchant caravan." The Syrian regime is facilitating the arming and funding of a major terrorist operation against Israel and the United States. Hezbollah maintains its headquarters in Damascus and they along with the Iranians have grown Hezbollah into a major fighting force with modern weapondry and ample funding. The Syrians have also allowed their country to be used as a staging ground and a major transit point for jihadi terrorists entering Iraq. This is just smuggling bootleg CDs or cheap designer knock offs my friend. This is a major operation of terrorism support against two of Syria's neighbors. The Syrian regime would not allow armed groups to operate from its territory if it did not want them there, especially armed groups that could cause the Syrian regime to be drawn into a war.
Your analogy about New York banking transactions was at best tortured. The more apt analogy would be if the US allowed armed terrorist gangs to operate from its territory, providing supply and logistics to them to attack both Canada and Mexico. I don't think either nation would sit still for that. Nor should Israel tolerate it or the US whose soldiers are dying because it's been allowed to go on.
I don't think your anology is quite on, if a bank in Egypt
was handling large money transfers to facilitate American
interests in the middle east, the Islamofacists would have
no problem at all bombing the crap out of it.
It's time the facilitators were given a hard lesson, we will
wipe out your proxies and destroy your means to supply them.
Want to keep on? Let's dance!
Only the West's resolve will give the Islamics pause, reticence is viewed as weakness and provides proof of the
validity of their mindset.
This IS NOT just...I meant.
If this report is true, it bodes for bigger problems. 20mm diameter is almost a whole inch, nearly as large as the hobby rocket I just built. That could be bad news if any get through!
Syria was continuing to smuggle arms into Lebanon to rearm the group,
Time to finish off those roads. Israel needs to completely destroy every road connecting Lebanon and Syria
I'll sleep better at night knowing this.
Why are we and Israel so timid about hitting Syria for its support of terrorists both in Lebanon and Iraq???
Waiting for Syria to make the right mistake...and they will
Why would a "merchant nation" pursue WMDs along with Iran and North Korea? Their economy is based on:
Natural resources: petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower. Exports: $6.344 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat. Imports: $5.973 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper. Major trading partners: Italy, France, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, China, Russia, U.S., South Korea, Italy (2004)
If you believe these farmers and miners are trading missiles and WMDs with terrorists for profit, you are gravely, and dangerously, mistaken.
This is what I just don't get. We are allowing Americans to die in Iraq to preserve Syria's peace. This terrorist movement in Iraq would have been largely choked off long ago if we had put the hurt on Syria for supporting it. I am a huge supporter of the Iraq effort, but this has been to me the major failing of the war, not hitting Syria and its support structures for the terrorists. No, the great mistake of the Iraq war isn't the usual litany sited by the Democrats and their media parrots, but rather letting Syria support the people killing our troops in Iraq with impunity. Of course those same Dems. and their media lapdogs would never support a corrective action on this by giving Syria a good pummeling.
As a general rule, Syrians simply extract a fee for *whatever* passes through their lands. They are more like a toll booth than a trader.
Hitting anything in Syria would constitute a major escalation, and may not be advisable at this juncture.
Either we're in a war against terrorists and those who support them or we're not. We can't continue to fight half way and with gloves on. The world knows of Syrian mischief without any doubt. Now is the time to confront Syria directly. A few well placed powerful bombs should do the trick. It would be Syrian choice after that. Ten to One they'd back off after screaming their heads off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.