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.
Col. Kilgore, is that you? (Obscure reference to "Apocalypse Now")
I know the Abrams and Challenger would not fair much better...As far as my understanding the Merkava is one of the most heavily armored tanks in the world...
They were going to field a new engine/tranny for the Merk so that it had a little better speed & acceleration. I think I read that that project got scrapped or scaled-back due to cost projections.
Not bad. As long as they add in their missiles and aircraft, sounds like a plan. Then get ready to drop some blockbusters on all those running across the desert towards Israel to cause trouble.
According to the recognized Rules of War, Hezzbollah is bringing the violence to the Lebanese populace and Israel is within its rights to bomb the living cr*p out of any areas from which the Hezzies are staging attacks. Arguments for "proportional responses" are best left to historians. Oh, and it's a good idea if those are YOUR historians, since if they are not it usually indicates that your side lost.
True. But then there's the re-writing of history that the leftist are so good at, win or lose.
I figure the nature of Iran, Syria and Lebanon will be quite different two years from now.
I think that's the unreported factor in all of Iran's bluster. They have no economy other than oil income and the fat petro-mullahs in Tehran have grown happy with new wealth. Cut the flow and they fall like mosquitos without water. Just blast part of the oil industry and watch um squeel.
Now what did I mean to say there? Certainly not Killeen, which is the home of the US Army's Ft. Hood, and also where I live.
Probably meant Iran.
A total of 46 allied nations use the TOW, and it is co-produced in Switzerland.
Notice in that photo, that the markings are in English, and the production date is shown as 2001. The Swiss would mark them in German, French, and Italian.
Production for other nations might not use the same packaging or markings as those produced for US forces. The storage/shipping boxes look kinda old fashioned compared to those I've seen for recent (and 2001 is very recent) US storage cases for other weapons.
so say you.
I have heard him state his position loud and clear on more than one occasion =- as well as it being reiterated by Condi and Tony - which is their jobs.
Were Bush to appear too strident, at this point, would be construed as Israel being under the U.S./Bush thumb, as mere lackeys, rather than exercising their sovereign right of defense and decision making/ - If we are perceived as "in charge"
" Bush better get the hell out in front "
it would, I believe, tip the delegate balance of world opinion regarding the US and other countries letting Israel have it's head on this.
This is high stakes poker. Bush doesn't play to the crowd...He plays to win. So say I... ;o)
That would be sweet if Israel captured one alive.
I'd be real curious to hear what the MI types ultimately have to say about those weapons.
Shudder....
Just posted this:
Ghostly Shadows - How bloody-minded are the tyrants of Tehran?
I like your idea, but I would like to add to it, please: " Anything that moves should be shot at"---AND KILLED!
You are correct. The Israelis know if they don't take care of business now, there will be no tomorrow.
The Merkava has lighter armor than the Abrams and Challenger 2 in terms of damage resistance; it has somewhat less advanced armor technologically. It was designed for warfare against the weak-to-middling anti-armor capability of their region. The Abrams has been hit multiple times in friendly fire incidents, including by other Abrams tanks, and the armor has proven to be surprisingly resistant to even American anti-armor weapons. But then, the Abrams was designed to fight and win tank battles on an exposed field against a numerically superior force that was using the best anti-armor technology the rest of the world could produce. There is a cost-benefit ratio to consider.
Of course, the US is currently field-testing an entirely new class of anti-armor weapon system that will effectively obsolete all known and projected armor technologies -- the proverbial irresistable force.
I am not sure that they would. The Swiss have more or less officially adopted English as the region-neutral language of choice in recent years, in some sort of language normalization effort. For the export market, it certainly would make sense for the markings to be in lingua franca (sweet irony).
The Bushman in DC is reportedly a wicked poker player.
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