http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1183901655986&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Despite warnings of war, gas masks are severely lacking
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 8, 2007 (excerpt)
While tension is mounting in the Golan Heights and senior defense officials are warning of the possibility of imminent war with Syria, less than 50 percent of the population will have their gas masks renewed by the end of the year, The Jerusalem Post has learned. . .
Syria is believed to have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons. According to the Global Security Web site, the Syrian arsenal is comprised mostly of large amounts of Sarin and mustard gas and is reportedly producing and weaponizing VX. The US, the report says, has estimated Syria to possess several hundred liters of chemical weapons with hundreds of tons of agents produced annually.
Acknowledging that the population’s gas masks will not be renewed and effective for at least another two years, defense officials told the Post Sunday that the IDF Home Front Command was currently considering proposals, if the need arises, to make emergency purchases of gas masks from Israeli and American companies. If war were to break out in the coming months, the Home Front Command would only have enough gas masks for 1.5 million adults and half-a-million children.
The shortage in gas masks stems from a 2003 Defense Ministry decision to collect the public’s gas masks, a project that only began at the beginning of 2007. Due to a lack of funds, the project was recently suspended and is expected to be renewed - following Sunday’s government decision - in the coming weeks. “This situation could be interpreted as neglect,” a senior official told the Post. “If war breaks out and non-conventional weapons are used then we could find ourselves in a major crisis.” . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/08/AR2007070801307_pf.html
Tunneling Near Iranian Nuclear Site Stirs Worry
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 9, 2007; A01 (excerpt)
The sudden flurry of digging seen in recent satellite photos of a mountainside in central Iran might have passed for ordinary road tunneling. But the site is the back yard of Iran’s most ambitious and controversial nuclear facility, leading U.S. officials and independent experts to reach another conclusion: It appears to be the start of a major tunnel complex inside the mountain.
The question is, why? Worries have been stoked by the presence nearby of fortified buildings where uranium is being processed. Those structures in turn are now being connected by roads to Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz, where the country recently started production of enriched uranium in defiance of international protests.
As a result, photos of the site are being studied by governments, intelligence agencies and nuclear experts, all asking the same question: Is Iran attempting to thwart future military strikes against its nuclear facility by placing key parts of it in underground bunkers? . . .
U.S. officials at several military and intelligence-gathering agencies said they are aware of the construction and are watching it closely, though none would comment publicly or speculate on the purpose of the tunnels.
A tunnel complex would reduce options for a preemptive military strike to knock out Iran’s nuclear program, according to U.S. officials who closely follow Iran’s nuclear activities. It also could further heighten tensions between the Bush administration and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said he is committed to pursuing a peaceful use of nuclear power. . .
Thanks for the Iran tunnels article, callmejoe.
Interesting times.
Tunneling like the rats they are. Thanks for the post Joe.
maybe they’re tunneling for someplace to test drive a home made nuke.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184063445286&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
IDF: War with Syria would be 10 times worse than Hizbullah (excerpted)
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 11, 2007
Predicting that war with Syria could erupt if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not begin peace negotiations with Damascus, the latest IDF assessment also states that such a conflict would be “at least 10 times worse” than last summer’s conflict with Hizbullah. . .
According to IDF assessments, Syria is not interested in an armed confrontation, but has stepped up its preparations for war since last year’s Israel-Hizbullah conflict.
Due to the lack of communication between the two countries, the IDF assessment is that a war could erupt sometime in the coming year if a diplomatic resolution is not reached first.
If war breaks out, the IDF believes Syria would fire thousands of long- and short-range missiles at Israeli cities.
The assumption is that a war with Syria would erupt due to a “miscalculation” along the border, in the form of a terrorist attack that escalates into a larger conflict.
Syria has come to believe that the United States will attack Iran this summer, and that as a result, Israel will once more go to war with Hizbullah. If that happens, Syria believes Israel will not confine its operations to Lebanon, but will also strike Syrian targets.
Syria has transferred several hundred medium-range missiles to Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post has learned, which has completely replenished its weapon supplies, exhausted during last summer’s war. The missiles include 220-mm. and 302-mm. Katyusha rockets that have ranges of up to 60 kilometers.
The IDF suspects that Hizbullah may have received more advanced Iranian and Syrian missiles, with the assumption being that any weapon small enough to fit into a standard 12-meter shipping container has been sent to the guerrilla group by the two countries. . .