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World Jewish News
'New Hizbullah arms may alter balance'
06.08.2009
Increasing tensions between Israel and Hizbullah are the result of growing concern that Syria will transfer "balance-altering" weaponry to the Iranian-backed guerrilla group in the event of a new conflict with Israel, a top defense official has told The Jerusalem Post.
"Our assumption is that whatever Iran and Syria have, Hizbullah could one day also have," the official said. The impact on IDF operations is that surveillance planes fly at higher altitudes out of fear that Hizbullah has obtained advanced air defense systems and Navy ships patrol farther from the coast out of fear that the group has obtained advanced anti-ship missiles.
The Navy also recently tested an upgraded version of the Barak missile defense system - which can intercept anti-ship missiles - out of concern that Hizbullah may soon receive an advanced anti-ship missile system.
Earlier this week, an Italian newspaper revealed that an Iranian plane crash last month was caused by the explosion of sophisticated explosive fuses that were on their way to Hizbullah.
According to Globalsecurity.org, Syria is known to have a significant arsenal of Scud ballistic missiles that are capable of hitting targets with fair accuracy throughout the State of Israel. Syria also has advanced anti-aircraft systems, according to the website.
"A truck, carrying a launcher and a missile can leave Damascus and arrive in the Beka Valley Hizbullah stronghold in just a few hours," the official said.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned in the Knesset that Israel would consider military action if Hizbullah altered the military balance with Israel. "We have relayed messages to different authorities and if the balance is altered we will consider our next steps," he said
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Officials said that Barak's remarks were made out of concern that Iran and Syria were considering transferring advanced military equipment to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Earlier this year, Barak issued a similar threat to Syria and Lebanon after Israel grew concerned that Damascus was planning to transfer advanced technology to Hizbullah.
If another war erupted along the northern border, Barak said Thursday, the IDF would have more operational freedom to target Lebanese infrastructure than it had during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
During the Second Lebanon War, Barak said, there was tacit agreement with the United States to avoid targeting state infrastructure like roads, power stations, airports and other state institutions.
Labor MK Amir Peretz, who preceded Barak as defense minister and was ousted after the war, was interviewed by Israel Radio after Barak and denied his claims. "There is no truth to the claim that Washington prevented Israel from targeting infrastructure," Peretz said.
The former defense minister said that at the onset of the confrontation, Israel had to decide whether to target Hizbullah missile silos or the Lebanese infrastructure, and decided against attacking the latter.
By YAAKOV KATZ. Jpost.com staff contributed to this report
Источник: JPost.com
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