Israelis worry about their missile shield

UPI via Space War ^ | 3/15/2010 | UPI via Space War

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

As Israel braces for possible war with Iran and its proxies, a new kind of conflict in which the civilian population will be a primary target for massive missile barrages, there are growing concerns about the military's ability to shield cities as well as its key bases. In the 34-day 2006 war Israel fought with Hezbollah of Lebanon, Tehran's main surrogate in the Levant, the Shiite movement fired some 4,000 rockets, supplied by Iran and Syria, into Israel as far south as the port city of Haifa, at a rate of around 150 per day.

That was the deepest Hezbollah had ever penetrated into the Jewish state. It was a wake-up call for Israelis that in future their enemies could target the whole country.

Amos Harel, defense correspondent of the daily Haaretz, noted a few days ago that Israel's leaders understood that "the enemy Â… will continue to view the Israeli civilian population as the central weak point and it is there that it will focus most of its attacks."

In 2006, Hezbollah possessed an estimated 12,000 rockets of various calibers, most of them of limited range and destructive power. Last weekend, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that Hezbollah now has some 45,000 rockets and missiles, thousands more than previously estimated and enough to sustain daily fire for months.

According to military analysts, some of those weapons are capable of hitting Tel Aviv, Israel's largest metropolis, the industrial heartland in the center of the country and as far south as the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert.

Israel's nightmare is that if hostilities do break out -- most likely if it launches pre-emptive strikes against Iran -- its cities would come under an unprecedented bombardment.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Iron Dome intercepting Grad Rocket

[LeoWindhorse]

Israel should not worry too much
The Lord God Almighty , El Shaddai , Jehovah,
is on their side . Their enemies will always fail ,
but before they fail they will be judged very harshly .
Thus it is ,America should consider very carefully
before we ever allow our leadership to go against
the well being of Israel . They would be leading us
into perdition .

[DannyTN]

"Israel's leaders understood that "the enemy Â… will continue to view the Israeli civilian population as the central weak point and it is there that it will focus most of its attacks."

If the U.N. had any sense of morality and any balls to stand up for what they've committed to in the Geneva convention, the willingness to target civilian populations alone should have been enough for the U.N. to aggressively come down on the palestinians.

There are too many Jew/West/Christian hating Muslim states in the U.N. to be an effective tool for peace.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Israeli Air Defense Network
Weapons systems
The network employs four primary weapons systems:
FIM-92 Stinger, a man portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile, mostly employed against helicopters
MIM-23 Hawk, a medium range radar guided surface-to-air missile and longest serving system, it is also the network's most victorious. The current model is an "improved" version featuring Raytheon's PIP3#
MIM-104 Patriot, a High to Medium Air Defense (HIMAD) medium tactical air defense platform which has demonstrated the capability to down ballistic missiles Arrow missile, an Israeli developed theatre missile defence (TMD) system meant to stop ballistic missiles in the stratosphere

[Brad from Tennessee]

[. . .Barak warned that Hezbollah now has some 45,000 rockets and missiles, thousands more than previously estimated and enough to sustain daily fire for months.]

If they know how many rockets Hezbollah has they know approximately where most them are stored. As costly as infantry operations are into Lebanon in terms of casualties and bad PR, it may be time again to cull this nest of vipers.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I only have radiation maps for Russia and the United States

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

[LeoWindhorse]

with Obama’s America looking less trustworthy all the time . Israel should tell the world that if the combined enemies
try to destroy them ,the first thing they will do is NUKE MECCA . Put it on the table , they have little to lose at this point in so doing .

[Bon mots]

Scorched earth is the solution. If they Moojs want to go after civilian populations, open the gates of hell on their civilian population. Nuke Teheran and Damascus.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I agree

[HiTech RedNeck]

Assume Israel has an ICBM that can reach that place?

[LeoWindhorse]

for them it is not an inter-continental shot
It is a medium range shot , and yes

[agere_contra]

Agree totally. Though to get help from the Saudis against Iran in the meantime, they should keep quiet about that.

But if the Iranians get a nuke, the Israelis may as well make MAD Islam’s problem, not just Iran.

[Halgr]

Prayers for Israel

[dervish]

Israel will not allow 8,000 civilian deaths. They are not Muslims who care nothing for the death of their populace.

Israel will resort to more wide scale attacks if they must to prevent this.