First a missile, then a drone, now it looks like were back to missiles again. This time with a twist:
A senior IDF officer said the ship was struck by an Iranian-made C802 missile, but he refused to say whether or not Iranian activists were behind the launching itself.
The army said two C802 missiles were fired at the vessel; the first missed the ship and struck an Egyptian boat some 60 kilometers (37 miles) off the Lebanon coast.
The stern of the ship was hit shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday night and a conflagration ignited on the helicopter landing pad. The hit also damaged the ship’s internal operating systems.
That iranian weapons are used is not terribly surprising or significant. However, this news could be:
A missile fired by Hezbollah, not an unmanned drone laden with explosives, damaged an Israeli warship off Lebanon, the army said Saturday. Elite Iranian troops helped fire the missile, a senior Israeli intelligence official said.One sailor was killed and three were missing.
The intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said about 100 Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon and helped fire the Iranian-made, radar-guided C-102 at the ship late Friday.
This is a troubling development but it won’t provoke an immediate Israeli response. Everyone wants to avoid (delay is probably more accurate) military action in Iran. An expansion to include Syria is more at this point.
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4 Responses
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July 16th, 2006 at 2:13 am
Without question this involves Iran. As I recall a Silkworm needs some initial guidance information to get its seeker into a place where it can detect and home onto a target. I have not seen the range at which this missile hit the gunboat, but if it was beyond-visual-range I would question where that initial guidance information came from.
July 16th, 2006 at 4:33 am
Katyusha rockets hit Nahariya and Tiberias
The damage resulting from Ariel Sharon’s retreat and negligence continues. Now, with the Hezbollah attacking Israeli targets anew, they’ve also struck Tiberias and the lower Galilee, and two people were murdered as a result.
July 17th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Debka is saying that the Israelis have destroyed the Lebanese army radar (!) because it was used for targeting.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Israel Vs. The Thugs
he conflict took a significant turn when it was