[lit-ideas] Re: Bomb Design by Proxy
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:23:53 -0400
Andreas: Just why is it that you bring up nuclear
weapons?
See the first post in the thread, which references
"Operation Divine Strake."
By the way, retired General Wesley Clark recently
opined that, contrary to common impressions, the
entire Iranian nuclear industry and all its
research facilities could be permanently taken out
in two weeks. Others have suggested that the
Iranian operation could be demolished by only two
B-2 bombers, each equipped with 16 payload devices.
Iran also seems to be preparing Hezbollah to
attack Israel. See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/04/wiran04.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/04/ixworld.html
Iran's spies watching us, says Israel
By Con Coughlin
Defence and Security Editor, on Israel's northern
border
(Filed: 04/04/2006)
Iran has set up a sophisticated intelligence
gathering operation in
southern Lebanon to identify targets in northern
Israel in the event of
a military confrontation over its controversial
nuclear programme.
Senior Israeli military commanders say Iran has
spent tens of millions
of pounds helping its close ally, Hizbollah, the
Shia Muslim militant
group that controls southern Lebanon, to set up a
network of control
towers and monitoring stations along the entire
length of Israel's
border with south Lebanon.
Some of the new control towers, which are made of
reinforced concrete
and fitted with bullet-proof reflective glass, are
less than 100 yards
from Israeli army positions and are clearly
visible for long stretches
along Israel's border.
"This is now Iran's front line with Israel," a
senior Israeli military
commander said. "The Iranians are using Hizbollah
to spy on us so that
they can collect information for future attacks.
And there is very
little we can do about it."
The Israeli military has reported a significant
increase in Hizbollah
activity in southern Lebanon since Syria came
under intense
international pressure to withdraw its forces from
the area last year
following the assassination of the Lebanese prime
minister Rafik Hariri.
Israeli military officers report that teams of
Iran's Revolutionary
Guards travel regularly to southern Lebanon to
help train local
Hizbollah fighters in terrorist tactics. Tensions
between Iran and
Israel have intensified dramatically since the
election last summer of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new
leader. Israel has
repeatedly threatened to take military action to
prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons, and the new Iranian
government has responded
by calling for Israel's destruction.
Senior Israeli military officers believe Iran is
deliberately exploiting
the power vacuum caused by Syria's withdrawal to
intensify pressure on
Israel's northern border.
Hizbollah is aware that Israel is keen to maintain
friendly relations
with the new government in Lebanon and believes it
can act freely in
southern Lebanon without provoking retaliatory
strikes from Israel.
Officers report a sharp increase in border
incidents between Hizbollah
fighters and Israeli units on the northern border,
with the main flash
points located at the disputed Druze village of
Ghajar, which is divided
by the border between Israel and Lebanon, and
Mount Dov, which Hizbollah
also claims should be part of Lebanon.
The situation is now regarded as so serious that
many senior Israeli
officers openly admit to missing the restraining
influence of Syria over
Hizbollah.
"When the Syrians were in Lebanon it was easy for
us to control
Hizbollah," said an officer with Israel's northern
command. "If things
got too tense we could put pressure on Damascus
and the Syrians would
act quickly to calm things down."
Although the Lebanese government technically
controls the border area,
its military is not considered strong enough to
control Hizbollah, which
takes its orders directly from Teheran.
"Iran is playing a very dangerous game of cat and
mouse on our northern
border and it could easily spiral out of control
at any moment," said
the officer.
In recent weeks Hizbollah sent unmanned aircraft
on reconnaissance
missions over the border to photograph sensitive
Israeli military
installations. The spy planes returned to base
before being detected by
air defence systems.
In addition to providing intelligence-gathering
and communications
equipment, Iran has also equipped Hizbollah with
improved weapons and
ammunition to launch attacks against Israel,
including heavy mortars and
rockets with a range of up to 30 miles.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
