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Israel's immediate missile threat is from Hizbullah in Lebanon

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Despite Iran's successful test-launch Tuesday of an intermediate-range missile, Israel's military regards its biggest missile threat to be along the border with Lebanon.

Israeli officials said Hizbullah has amassed 15,000 missiles and rockets, with a range of beyond 100 kilometers.

On Tuesday, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah said his militia has targeted every port and military base in northern Israel. Nasrallah pledged to fire thousands of rockets into Israel in any counter-attack. He said Hizbullah has more than 12,000 rockets and missiles in southern Lebanon.

"We are capable of striking any part of northern Palestine [Israel] with thousands of rockets," Nasrallah said in an address in Beirut. "What deters Israel from attacking us is our constant readiness to respond in a suitable way."

Iran yesterday launched its Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile in what was regarded as a show of force toward the United States.

Western intelligence sources said Teheran launched the Shihab-3 on Tuesday from northwestern Iran. The sources said the launch was successful and the missile traveled around 1,300 kilometers.

"We still have to study data from the launch and flight trajectory," an intelligence source said.

The launch was detected by Israeli and U.S. satellites, the sources said. They said Israel and the United States exchanged data on the Shihab-3 launch.

This was the first Shihab-3 launch since January 2006. Over the last two years, Iran has succeeded in extending the range of the missile from 1,500 to nearly 2,000 kilometers as well as enhance navigation capabilities.

The sources said the Shihab-3 was not its enhanced model, which was tested in 2004. They said the missile appeared to be one of about 50 missiles deployed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and which contain a range of 1,300 kilometers.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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