Posted on 08/04/2006 7:02:46 PM PDT by blam
Missiles neutralizing Israeli tanks
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Hezbollah's sophisticated anti-tank missiles are perhaps the guerrilla group's deadliest weapon in Lebanon fighting, with their ability to pierce Israel's most advanced tanks.
Experts say this is further evidence that Israel is facing a well-equipped army in this war, not a ragtag militia.
Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the army confirmed on Friday.
In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks — mountains of steel that are vaunted as symbols of Israel's military might, the army said. Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.
"They (Hezbollah guerrillas) have some of the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world," said Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior military intelligence officer who retired earlier this summer.
"This is not a militia, it's an infantry brigade with all the support units," Kuperwasser said.
Israel contends that Hezbollah gets almost all of its weaponry from Syria and by extension Iran, including its anti-tank missiles.
That's why cutting off the supply chain is essential — and why fighting Hezbollah after it has spent six years building up its arsenal is proving so painful to Israel, officials say.
Israel's Merkava tanks boast massive amounts of armor and lumber and resemble fortresses on tracks. They are built for crew survival, according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank.
Hezbollah celebrates when it destroys one.
"A Zionist armored force tried to advance toward the village of Chihine. The holy warriors confronted it and destroyed two Merkava tanks," the group proclaimed on television Thursday.
The Israeli army confirmed two attacks on Merkava tanks that day — one that killed three soldiers and the other killing one. The three soldiers who were killed on Friday were also killed by anti-tank missiles, the army said.
It would not say whether the missiles disabled the tanks.
"To the best of my understanding, they (Hezbollah) are as well-equipped as any standing unit in the Syrian or Iranian armies," said Eran Lerman, a retired army colonel and now director of the Israel/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. "This is not a rat-pack guerrilla, this is an organized militia."
Besides the anti-tank missiles, Hezbollah is also known to have a powerful rocket-propelled grenade known as the RPG29. These weapons are also smuggled through Syria, an Israeli security official said, and were previously used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to damage tanks.
On Friday, Jane's Defense Weekly, a defense industry magazine, reported that Hezbollah asked Iran for "a constant supply of weapons" to support its operations against Israel.
The report cited Western diplomatic sources as saying that Iranian authorities promised Hezbollah a steady supply of weapons "for the next stage of the confrontation."
Top Israeli intelligence officials say they have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers on the ground with Hezbollah troops. They say that permission to fire Hezbollah's longer-range missiles, such as those could reach Tel Aviv, would likely require Iranian go-ahead.
If the Iraiian / Syrians, want a war. It seems to me, we must raise the stakes. We must not let, them set "the rules" ....after all, this is WW III. :^(
It may come to a flat out war soon, full killing zones and all. I think things are going to get very nasty, sooner than later.
please, please, please.....next time attach a 'major barf alert' to any similar type post.
Sounds right, and the missile shipments through Syria may require attacks across their border. How far will Iran push this fight?
THen since tanks are so vulnerable and since the Hezballhs don't have any it will be grunt against grunt squad sized battles
True. Short / concise.....Its' Them or Us
Me thinks there is quite a gap between having three tanks "damaged" and losing a war.
Well it's war and casualties are going to be taken by both sides.The only difference is the MSM are waiting with baited breath for any good news to report.By good news I'm talking about how many Israelie military are killed or wounded.This makes the MSM very happy !!!
I think they're doing that now.
GLASS. F&@*!!. PARKING LOT
I think you are right - but a fight that must be fought now - or, instead of thousands dying in that region, it will be millions around the world - including on US soil.
The same enemy the civilized nations have had to pound back into the sand every few hundred years is no longer confined in one generalized area of the world. They have slowly, with malice aforethought, permeated every country...It is not going to be easy - but it needs to be done - we cannot twiddle our thumbs and hope for the best. We did that in 1938, 1939 etc. By the time we took the blinders off, things had escalated almost to the point of no return - and millions died who would not have had Hitler been nipped in the bud.
This is another one of those times in history -
At what point in the near future will we attack Iran?
Do I take it you're enlisting?
A little frightening to think about all those WMD that went to the Becka Valley, etc -
It's sad. You fight a PC war to minimize casualties and the Hezbos celebrate a few lucky shots.
PC wars get our own guys killed. It's time they are ended in favor of killing the bastards.
Normally one concentrates the artillery barrage with the tank-infantry assault in space and time.
A series of short sharp attacks delivered at different locations would nibble up the Hezbollah operating space.
The Hezbollah would be forced to counterattack, which brings them out of their holes.
The problem: what do the Israelis do with the women and children that are captured by the offensives? Of course Israel doesn't make war on women and children, and would load them onto busses and evacuate them, thus inflaming the "Arab Street" which would murder Jewish women and children out of hand. Of course Hezbollah would try to ambush the busses on their way out of the combat zone.
There is nothing like taking ground to convince an enemy that he has lost. Nothing like shooting him down by thousands as he counterattacks to reduce the population of his fighters.
Exactly. The Israelis and Americans should stop trying to win wars and start trying to conquer nations.
Agree....I'm no "spring chicken", if they're asking...I'm ready. L/L 8^|
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