Israel Matzav

As Assad controls chem weapons, Israel attacks Fateh 110 missiles headed for Hezbullah

Both Thursday night's and Saturday night's IAF attacks on Syria targeted Fateh 110 missiles, according to a 'Western intelligence source.' The Fateh 110 has a range of 200-300 kilometers, and is manufactured in Iran. There are several variations of the Fateh missile. Here is a chart that summarizes them.

In 2006, Israel took out Hezbullah's Fateh 110's during the early part of the Second Lebanon War. 300 kilometers is enough range to reach anywhere in Israel.

Israel has even gone so far as to say that Hezbullah has no interest in Syria's chemical weapons and that Bashar al-Assad retains control over them. Someone ought to tell the Obama administration (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). Israel is after the game-changing Fateh's and not the chemical weapons. This is from the first link in this paragraph:

Defence Ministry strategist Amos Gilad spoke after another Israeli official said Israel had sent warplanes on Friday to attack a Hezbollah-bound missile shipment in Syria, where Assad is battling a more than two-year-old insurgency.

Israel has long made clear it is prepared to resort to force to prevent advanced Syrian weapons reaching Hezbollah or jihadi rebels. In late January, regional sources said Israel destroyed a convoy carrying Syrian anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah.

Gilad said Assad had huge quantities of chemical weapons, missiles and rockets. "The good news is that this is under full control (of the Syrian government)," he said in a speech.

"Nor is a group like Hezbollah ... keen to take this (chemical) weaponry. It is keen to take weapon systems, like rockets that can reach, say, all the way here," added Gilad, who was speaking in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. 

...

Gilad suggested that Hezbollah, unlike a regular military, may not be equipped to handle chemical weapons.

"There is a problem with chemical weaponry. It can also kill those who don't know how to use it. It is not a sympathetic thing. So, for now it is under control. It is very important that it is under control," Gilad said.

The target of Sunday's attack, according to Syrian media, was the same Jamraya military research center which was hit by Israel in January. Jamraya, on the northern approaches to Damascus, is just 15 km (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The Western intelligence source said Israel carried out the attack and the operation hit Iranian-supplied missiles which were en route to Hezbollah.

"In last night's attack, as in the previous one, what was attacked were stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah," the source said.

...

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the scale of the attack meant it was beyond the military capability of Syrian rebels, and quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the blasts.

The Observatory said the blasts hit Jamraya as well as a nearby ammunition depot. Other activists said a missile brigade and two Republican Guard battalions may also have been targeted in the heavily militarised area just north of Damascus.

 And you thought Israel would only go after the chemical weapons. We're not as dumb as Obama.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Fateh 110, Free Syrian Army, IAF, Syria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:07 PM