Israeli raid caused electronic disruption over wide areas of Syria

WorldTribune.com ^ | October 5, 2007 | Unk.

[Signalman]

The lid of secrecy covering the Sept. 6 Israeli air strike into Syria remains tight but one new theory emerging amid the speculation is that the Israeli conducted an electronic warfare exercise in preparation for future strikes or an attack on Iran.

Authoritative reports from the Middle East stated that the Israel operation included extensive electronic warfare jamming by aircraft. The Israeli were testing the capabilities of Russian-made air defenses, including both radar and missiles located near Damascus and south of Homs near the Lebanese northern border.

The raid was unprecedented in the blanket of jamming and electronic disruption that it caused over wide areas of Syria enroute to the target point, a base near the Euphrates River.

The jamming also affected parts of Lebanon and Israel but Syria was able to get a small amount of sensor information from one of its electronic eavesdropping stations and spot the Israeli infiltration.

The raid was part of a U.S. “masint” operation according to this theory, referring to the military practice known as measurement and signature intelligence that is designed to learn the chrematistics and capabilities of all weapons in a region that emanate electronic signals. The masint signatures are needed for targeting and for defeating air defense threats.

The daring raid would gain valuable intelligence needed for future strikes by both Israel and the United States in the region.

The U.S. military is considering attacks on both Syria and Iran to counter infiltration by insurgents and terrorists into Iraq, including the Iranian paramilitaries. Israel could use the data for its battle against Hizbullah and possibly a future strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Journalist Jack Wheeler raised this idea in a recent report when he stated that the identity of the target, whether nuclear facilities, missiles or Hizbullah terrorists is “not the story.”

“The primary point of the attack was not to destroy that target,” Wheeler said. “It was to shut down Syria's Russian air defense system during the attack. Doing so made the attack an incredible success. Syria is shamed and silent. Iran is freaking out in panic. Defenseless enemies are fun.”

[Dog]

but my counter-point is that you don't reveal how you are going to attack Iran if you really mean to do it because that gives up the element of surprise

But what if Israel has no intentions of striking Iran....BUT Iran doesn't know that for sure...pucker factor just went up under those mullah robes.

[Dog]

Thanks nully...:-)

[gjones77]

The first thing we learned in the USAF Security Police Academy ;)

[null and void]

Any time FRiend, any time...

[RSmithOpt]

Thank you.....most people could not sleep knowing what really goes on and what the us is doing and holding back on.

[ASA Vet]

The first thing we learned in the USAF Security Police Academy ;)

I would have thought the first thing would have been how to not blow your foot off while clearing your weapon. ;D

[gjones77]

I really don’t feel it’s a test run, I believe it was a simple message, none the less Iran in no way has enough time to figure out how to counter this.

They First have to know what was done by the US/Israel, then it has know how it was done, then it needs to know what can be done to avoid all that.

Take it from a guy that puts people to work who developed these systems, the level of encrytion used in these systems is pretty dense and Iran doesn’t have enough super computers or enough time to crack it.

The beauty in what was done is that it’s almost impossible to prevent it in any reasonable mount of time or in a fiscally reasonable way since the systems take far too long to upgrade.

This attacked worked out perfectly in every respect in that Syria, Iran, Russia, and China all now know that we have systems capable of allowing us to waltz in and take out strategic targets in the middle east at our leisure, this will keep Dinnerjacket and his buddies in Syria at bay, and more open to diplomatic discussions.

[coloradan]

but Syria was able to get a small amount of sensor information from one of its electronic eavesdropping stations

And the entire content of that "small amount" was: "All your (crackle) base are belong to (static) us (unintelligible) ... (end of transmission)"

[null and void]

I would have thought the first thing would have been how to not blow your foot off while clearing your weapon. ;D

It's the Air Force, they don't shoot well enough to hit their own feet...

[ASA Vet]

My first thought was zoomies probably aren’t issued live ammo unless they get to guard those bombers with the doors closed.

[Red_Devil 232]

My job in the Marine Corps was the same. We called it Electronics Counter Measures (ECM), 1969-1973. The ALQ-100 was our big gun at the time and my specialty along with the passive systems of the APR-25 and the APR-27. The back of our shop was heavily lined with copper mesh shielding and the door was equivalent to your local bank’s safe door! One late night (Cherry Point, NC) the door was left a jar while an operational test was conducted on one of the ALQ-100’s. Caused radio, TV and all kinds of disruption for miles around for a few min.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Highly unlikely unless all of the sites were within, say, 30 miles of the beach or border. They’d have to accompany the strike package. It’s EA-6B by the way.

[Cap Huff]

I bet the official explanation was sunspots . . .

[Dead Dog]

Hmmm....I wonder if the USN was close to this operation.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

“We be jammin’,
we be jammin’...”

[Beckwith]

The word “jamming” is the West Indies equivalent of our word "screwing."

Helps one understand the song.

[Hegemony Cricket]

LOL - yeah I kinda figgered that’s what it meant... :-)

[BurbankKarl]

Topcat 29 was!

[Red_Devil 232]

You are very close to being right. We, the Tech’s on duty that night, were given a very stern lecture by the MAG-14 Co. It never happened again!