Posted on 08/15/2006 12:20:50 PM PDT by Flavius
ADVANCED weapons supplied by Syria and Iran have been uncovered by Israeli forces in abandoned Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, helping account for how the guerilla force defied the might of the Israeli armed forces in the month-long war.
London's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday the weapons were found outside the town of Ghandouriyeh, east of Tyre, after 24 Israeli soldiers were killed pushing Hezbollah fighters from the strategic hilltop town in one of the war's fiercest confrontations.
Outside one of the town's two mosques, a van was found filled with green casings about 2m long. The serial numbers identified them as AT-5 Spandrel anti-tank missiles, the report says. The wire-guided weapon was developed in Russia but Iran began making a copy in 2000.
In the east of the village, the newspaper found evidence of Syrian-supplied hardware.
In a garden lay eight Kornet anti-tank rockets, described by Brigadier Mickey Edelstein, the commander of the Nahal troops who took Ghandouriyeh, as "some of the best in the world".
Written underneath a contract number on each casing were the words: "Customer: Ministry of Defence of Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia," the paper reports.
Brigadier Edelstein told the Telegraph: "If they tell you that Syria knew nothing about this, just look. This is the evidence. Proof, not just talk."
Anti-tank weapons like those found by the Israeli troops accounted for the bulk of Israeli military casualties in Lebanon.
The weapons were not just used against Israel's heavily armoured Merkava tanks, disabling dozens, but against buildings in which Israeli troops had taken up positions, often bringing the structure down on them.
The Kornet is laser-guided and can hit a target 5km away. Its double warhead is capable of penetrating the armour on
most of Israel's advanced tanks.
Israeli officers told the newspaper that Hezbollah fighters had received thorough training in Iran in use of the weapons and had wielded them efficiently.
The discovery of the origin of the weapons proved to the Israelis that their enemy was not a ragged and lightly armed militia but a semi-professional army equipped by Syria and Iran to take on Israel, the report says.
The overall ceasefire between Israel and the Shia militia continued to hold yesterday despite four separate shooting incidents in southern Lebanon in which seven Hezbollah fighters were killed and five Israeli soldiers wounded.
Several mortar rounds were fired by Hezbollah without causing injuries.
With the cessation of Hezbollah rocketing, thousands of Israelis who had taken shelter in the centre of the country returned to their homes in northern Israel yesterday.
In the town of Kiryat Shmona, the hardest hit Israeli community, 2000 families found their apartments damaged or destroyed.
The northward flow of Israelis to the border area matched the southward flow of Lebanese to their villages, likewise severely damaged, as Israeli artillery also ceased firing.
A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, reacting to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's declaration that he would not disarm Hezbollah, even in southern Lebanon, said that Nasrallah was obliged to honour the decision of the Security Council and the commitment of the Lebanese Government.
"We will not tolerate the return of Hezbollah to the area," the official told Israel Radio, "and if it refuses to disarm we will have to take care of it."
Israeli officials said that the tens of thousands of reservists mobilised for the campaign will begin to be demobilised this week, with 80 per cent out of uniform within a week.
We are gonna regret not flaming their tails because of these weapons transfers to the Hezzies.
And next on the evening news: The sky is blue and the grass is green!! Who knew??
/sarc off
And yet the U.N. resolution doesn't mention Syria or Iran.
Now there's a clue as to the true value of this peace agreement.
And, NOT ONE OF THOSE COUNTRYS ARE MENTIONED IN THE NEW RESOLUTION.
Nicely done, UN.
that is three times I have seen Mike Wallace in the last 15 minutes - Did he really say that line?
Written underneath a contract number on each casing were the words: "Customer: Ministry of Defence of Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia," the paper reports.
BUSTED!!!!
There is way too much focus here on Hezbollah and not enough on Iran and Syria. The Israelis will never have peace as long as the two above-mentioned countries continue to provide Hezbollah with a blank check. They are the primary instigators of this conflict and sooner or later they will have to either cease flooding Lebanon with weapons or the weapons supply will need to be cut off at source. Nobody wants to speak about this but both Iran and Syria are involved in this conflict and either Israel or the US or both are going to have to militarily confront both of these countries. Preferably before the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons.
Yep.
In an interview with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mike Wallace of CBSs Sixty Minutes TV show came away quite impressed. "He's a swell guy, Wallace said. He really is. He's obviously smart as hell. Hes a college professor, for Christs sake. Nobodys smarter than them."
"Granted he wants to wipe Israel off the map, but Im a Jew and he didnt kill me when he had the chance, Wallace continued. Youve got to give him credit for that. I found him an interesting man. He has some intriguing ideas.
One of the intriguing ideas cited by Wallace was Ahmadinejads suggestion that the Jews of Israel could simply be relocated. He suggested that a new homeland for the Jews could be established in Alaska, which I find fascinating," Wallace said. He pointed out that if European Jews had been sent to Madagascar like the Nazis requested, they wouldnt have had to kill them. Youve got to admit he has a point there. And who are we to say that the stonings and hangings havent been a useful weapon in the battle against immorality?
Everyone in the world knows who the bad guys are; so - we have two choices - we and the rest of the world puss out or stand up like men and destroy these people.
That's it.
Israeli delegation is on its way to Rusia with the evidence. I wonder if this relates to the three Russian companies the US is sanctioning in spite of Russian protests.
Maybe we are seeing the Israeli backdown is due to what has been discovered. If this is really with Syria and Iran and if Russia is supplying weapons - a backoff and rethinking might be necessary.
"IF" Syria does have the WMD from Iraq and "IF" Iran is quickly getting nuclear capability and wants to wipe Israel off the map, a reconsideration of tactic IS NECESSARY.
So, we just have to trust in our president to weigh all of this. So very thankful we have a man like George Bush doing the weighing of the world tinderbox.
Captain Obvious graphic posting in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Sure - he has a point there - if you buy into the fact that the Nazis "HAD" to kill them.
Guess the Jews are the rats of the world - merely to be destroyed by the sane people of the world.
Iran sends Hezbollah over 250 million a year to keep the shiite 5th column in Lebannon and keep shiites moving there for the takeover.
I've heard many Iranians in Iran are absolutely pissed at this because the shiites living in Lebannon get free housing, free money to start businesses, free medical care, while Iran continues to have one of the worst economies on the planet.
Perhaps the Iranian government doesn't know genocide when it happens, as it happened to the Jews in Europe, and many times in the world since.
Perhaps the Iranian government would like to see a demonstration of genocide on one of its cities. At thhis point, it seems that is the ONLY thing that might work.
Whose FINAL SOLUTION must we experience? Iran's or OURS?
I say Nuke an Iranian City and be done with it, more sh!t to follow unless you stop your destabilization of the ME with Shia clap trap. Go home, worship in your temples, leave the world alone, or be destroyed .
Message delivered.
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