Why the Katyushas are so hard to prevent

Jerusalem Post ^ | 8-4-06 | YAAKOV KATZ

[SJackson]

Some of the rockets work on a timer and are as small and thin as lampposts.

The backs of pickup trucks, side rooms in one-story homes and thick brush in valleys and on ridges are the places from which Hizbullah is succeeding in firing rockets despite intensive IDF operations to stop the attacks.

On Wednesday, Hizbullah fired more than 220 rockets and on Thursday another 150, proving that despite the IDF operation, which entered its fourth week on Wednesday, it was still functioning just like it was on July 12, the day the war erupted.

From the beginning of this war, senior military officers repeatedly stated that the goal of Operation Change of Direction was not to eradicate Hizbullah's Katyusha array but to weaken the organization to the extent that it would be possible to create a new diplomatic order in southern Lebanon, one that would not include a guerrilla presence.

But after a day in which eight Israelis were killed in rocket attacks, the defense establishment is aware that it cannot let the Katyushas continue raining down on the North, at least not to the extent of the past two days.

That is why Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday ordered the IDF to begin preparing for an escalation in the ground offensive against Hizbullah and to begin deploying troops up to the Litani River, some 40 kilometers north of the border.

It is in between the 100 villages in southern Lebanon that Hizbullah fires its rockets. The rockets and missiles fired at Haifa and Afula were launched from Tyre, south of the Litani, where the IDF has until now only been utilizing air power. According to Peretz's new order, troops could reach Tyre within a matter of days.

A high-ranking officer explained on Thursday that some of the rockets worked on a timer and were as small and thin as lampposts, similar to the Kassam rockets launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

The launchers, he explained, were extremely difficult to locate and residents in the North might need to learn from their counterparts in the South who have been living under rocket threats for several years, he said

"No military in the world can destroy all of the rockets," he explained. "As sad as it might sound, the residents of the North might need to get used to living under this threat."

Another issue is the anti-tank missiles being fired in the hundreds at troops operating in southern Lebanese villages.

On Thursday, two such rockets were fired at tanks in different villages and the results were tragic - four soldiers were killed, one in Ataybeh and three in Rajamin in the western sector of southern Lebanon.

But what is even more tragic is that the defense establishment has refused to fund an existing defense system for tanks that could protect them from rockets like RPGs and the Soviet-built Sagger.

Senior Armored Corps officers told The Jerusalem Post last week that the defense establishment had refused to provide tanks with the Trophy, a Rafael-developed active protection system which creates a hemispheric protected zone around armored vehicles, such as the Merkava 4 tank, currently operating on the ground in southern Lebanon. The system is designed to detect and track a threat and counters it with a launched projectile that intercepts the anti-tank rocket.

"Money is what is killing and wounding soldiers," one high-ranking officer told the Post last week. "The Trophy system is supposed to be there to provide the answer to this threat, but due to budget constraints the soldiers are paying the price with their lives."

[glorgau]

"No military in the world can destroy all of the rockets," he explained. "As sad as it might sound, the residents of the North might need to get used to living under this threat."

The Israelis are like pioneers living out amongst the savages.

[Graybeard58]

Sounds like the Israeli "defence establishment" has some John Kerrys of thier own.

Remembering from our last election that Kerry voted against every weapons system that ever came along.

[SJackson]

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[johnny7]

"As sad as it might sound, the residents of the North might need to get used to living under this threat."

Must be close friends with John Francois Kerry.

[BadAndy]

We have radar systems that can track the trajectory of an incoming artillery shell or rocket, and direct return artillery to the launch coordinates. Why isn't this used by the Israelis?

[jonascord]

Shoot and scoot tactics against counter-mortar radar. Hizb'allah puts a 6 or 9 shot launcher on the back of a truck, parks it with the engine running, aims it in the general direction of Israel, volleys the rockets, and the truck is in motion like Billy-be-jiggered before the smoke clears. It's why they shoot 200 220mm rockets, and hit damn little.

The launchers themselves are nothing more than a steel rack to hold the shells and point them in the generally same direction, with a simple firing circuit. Estes toy rockets are more complex. What I would like to know is whether we could "sell" a JSTARS system to the IDF, so they can track all ground traffic in southern Lebanon, assume it is ALL hostile, and simply blast every moving blip. Or better yet, track several trucks, establish a pattern, and take out the stock piles.

[dirtboy]

But after a day in which eight Israelis were killed in rocket attacks, the defense establishment is aware that it cannot let the Katyushas continue raining down on the North, at least not to the extent of the past two days.

The Israelis finally cut off the road to Syria.

Now they drop leaflets giving civilians 48 hours to leave the border area. And then commence carpet bombing. Too bad they don't have a few BUFFs to help out.

[BadAndy]

"Hizb'allah puts a 6 or 9 shot launcher on the back of a truck, parks it with the engine running, aims it in the general direction of Israel, volleys the rockets, and the truck is in motion like Billy-be-jiggered before the smoke clears."

Understood. However the use of radar to pinpoint and hit the (abandoned) launch site justifies counterattacking to that location. Let the ragheads complain that civilians are hit when they decide where the launch pads are located.

[ASOC]

Sems like they (US and IDF) need to go going on the M/THEL and get it deployed. Once in place the terrs would lose the tool used to inflict so much pain.

[Salem]

---

Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.





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[garbageseeker]

They are very small and can be launched from a donkey cart. The is the reason they are difficult to destroy from the air.

[Redcloak]

The IDF is doing the one thing that can prevent Katyusha rocket attacks: They are cutting roads into the area. The Hesbos allegedly have 10,000 rockets. Unless all 10,000 are in southern Lebanon, then they have to be moved into the area. Cutting roads and bridges goes a long way toward preventing the Hesbos from resupplying their crews or moving whatever supplies they already have on hand.

[garbageseeker]

I agree.

[garbageseeker]

They need to start hitting the munition depots in Syria and the trails if they are going to make a servere dent in Hezbollahs suppy routes. .

[Hoodat]

They need to start hitting the munition depots in Syria and the trails if they are going to make a servere dent in Hezbollahs suppy routes.

Spot on.

[ASOC]

Think I saw where they have hit/destroyed 12 at once.

Seems a couple of fixed systems would work to protect the ports if nothing else. And these are not COIL pumped, so byproduct should not be an issue.

OTOH, talk about your belt wearing suicide bomber bait....

[garbageseeker]

I sure that its up an running.

[July 4th]

The Israelis are like pioneers living out amongst the savages.

You mean like American pioneers? After all, we know how that story ended. Now it's our friggin' land.