Hizbullah admits receiving Syrian scuds

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=173217 ^

[jhpigott]

Group accuses Israel of blowing incident out of proportion

Hizbullah sources confirmed Thursday that the terror group received a shipment of Scud missiles from Syria, the Kuwaiti paper Al-Rai reported.

According to the report, the missiles were claimed to be old and unusable. Hizbullah also accused Israel of blowing the incident out of proportion in order to provoke a media ruckus.

The sources added, "Our organization has many surface-to-surface missiles spread across all of Lebanon, in case Israel attacks the country again.”

In spite of this confirmation, the Syrian Foreign Ministry denied the reports, saying Israel was trying to stoke tensions in the Middle East and could be setting the stage for a possible Israeli "aggression" to avoid Middle East peace requirements.

Thursday's Syrian statement comes after President Shimon Peres accused Syria of supplying the Lebanese guerrillas with Scuds for the first time.

Israeli defense officials also have said they believe Hizbullah has Scud missiles, and that their introduction could alter the strategic balance with the Islamic guerrilla group.

In an effort to prevent a new conflict, Al-Rai reported Monday that the US State Department summoned the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Imad Mustafa, and warned him that war could break out if the weapons shipments were not stopped.

At the same time, according to the Wall Street Journal, the IDF came very close recently to attacking a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon, but at the last moment decided against it.

The possibility that Syria would transfer Scud missiles to Hizbullah is not a new fear in the Israeli defense establishment.

According to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai, Israel sent warnings to Syria through Turkey and Qatar that it would “bomb Lebanese and Syrian targets in case the missiles crossed the border and reached Hizbullah.”

In related news, Col. Ronen Cohen, former head of the Northern Front in Military Intelligence and the current chief intelligence officer for the IDF’s Central Command, said in a research paper that an Israeli bombing of Lebanese national infrastructure would likely unite the Lebanese people behind Hizbullah and its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

[jhpigott]

That takes the guess work out of the equation . . . looks like Hezbollah did get SCUDs from Syria . . . ball in Israel's court

[jhpigott]

ping

[A.A. Cunningham]

The Jerusalem Post

[jhpigott]

Sleepless in Damascus . . .

Last update - 15:10 15/04/2010

Syria: Israel’s Scud accusation may be pretense for attack

Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday.

President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was “increasingly concerned” about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.

“Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Advertisement”The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications.”

Hezbollah hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah in the past two months.

The United States said the move would have a possible “destabilizing effect” on the region. The presence of more advanced missiles in Lebanon could raise the prospects of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in February that if Israel struck Beirut’s airport, the group would hit Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport.

While tension between Syria and Israel has increased this year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last month he remained committed to seeking peace with Israwl.

Syrian and Israeli forces last fought each other in Lebanon in the 1980s. A 1974 ceasefire has kept the front between the two quiet on the Golan Heights, which Israeli captured in the 1967 Siz-Day War.

The two sides held four rounds of indirect peace talks in 2008, only eight months after Israeli plains bombed a target in eastern Syria the United States, Israel’s chief ally, said was an illegal nuclear project.

Syria said the target was a non-nuclear military installation, and “reserved the right to respond in the appropriate time and place.”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163279.html

[Izzy Dunne]

The UN will get right on this, I’m sure...

[SpinnerWebb]

According to the report, the missiles were claimed to be old and unusable. Hizbullah also accused Israel of blowing the incident out of proportion in order to provoke a media ruckus.

The sources added, "Our organization has many surface-to-surface missiles spread across all of Lebanon, in case Israel attacks the country again.”

If they're so old and unusable, what good would they be in case Israel attacks... hmmm?

[PowderMonkey]

"According to the report, the missiles were claimed to be old and unusable."

Oh...ok. Well then, that's a relief. Phew! Continue grazing. Nothing to see here.

[jhpigott]

old and unusable my rear end - no way Syria risks running a convoy of dud-SCUDs across the Syrian/Lebanese border knowing full well that the IAF may light them up

[Carley]

With a wink and a nod from O.

[VRWCTexan]

Other report yesterday that they were the Scud D model - NOT “useless” (and presumably provided to Syria by Iran)

[verity]

“Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday”

Proposed New ROE: Syria destroyed after first Scud strike.

[GonzoGOP]

The one virtue of the Scud-D is that it is so primitive that it is virtually GI proof. They are going to fire up unless you blow a hole in one.

These may have been older model Scuds, but they have enough range to hit Israel's major population centers. These are not little home made rockets that you can ignore. These are guided ballistic missiles that can put a ton of TNT or chemical weapons anyplace within 300km of the target. And unlike Saddam's Scud-B missiles that scatted over a couple of kilometers the Scud-d is supposed to be accurate to within 50 meters. Not a JDAM but with a ton of TNT that is accurate enough for Hamas.

[bert]

The missiles themselves are useless with out trained technicians to launch them

Te question is does Hezbollah have such trained technicians or were they flown into Beirut from Tehran via Paris?

[jhpigott]

Look what Ynet is reporting about the Mass security drill taking place. It was a surprise and police forces are deploying across the country. Probably just an exercise but it could be to get police and military in place to protect after an attack. It is just odd that they didn’t announce it and that it is nation wide. One eye witness said he has never seen anything like it.

1. terror warning for israelis to come home Tuesday
2. Scud missiles delivered to Hezbollah from Syria
3. Lots of talk today that Israel may attack Syria and Lebanon
4 Surprise nation wide exercise deplying police forces everywhere and bringing the nation to a halt.
5.Bibi cancels trip to attend nuke summit

May turn out to be nothing but seems like a lot of interesting things going on right now.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3876648,00.html

[GonzoGOP]

Te question is does Hezbollah have such trained technicians or were they flown into Beirut from Tehran via Paris?

Syria has had Scuds for years so they certainly could have provided the training. Also the actual launch procedure is fairly simple. Assuming that the targeting was preprogrammed beforehand. You only need a had full of guys to do the targeting setups. The rest of the launch crews can just be your average terrorist who went to a three week training seminar in Damascus.

[edpc]

no way Syria risks running a convoy of dud-SCUDs across the Syrian/Lebanese border knowing full well that the IAF may light them up

Well, not necessarily. We know Ahmadinejad was recently in Damascus with Assad and Nasrallah discussing the potential of a regional war against Israel. It's possible they could have sent some outdated material over the border, hoping Israel would strike. In their twisted logic, that would be cause for war based on defense. Naturally, the shipment would be reported as food, medicine, or some other harmless cargo.

In the end, though, I am more inclined to believe these were fully functional.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“The UN will get right on this, I’m sure...”

Naw! Obozo will tell Kerry to have some more stern words for Syria!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks jhpigott.

[VRWCTexan]

There are reliable reports of many 1000s of terrorists from Gaza, Lebanon, etc being trained inside Iran for many different missions.

I personally seriously doubt that Israel(when threatened) will pause to try and figure out if fully trained techs are baby-sitting these scuds?