Day: July 15, 2006

REPORT: ISRAEL GIVES SYRIA ULTIMATUM

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences

Ynet is reporting that the London-Based Islamic periodical “Al Hayat” states that Israel has given Syria a 72 Hour ultimatum. Continue reading “REPORT: ISRAEL GIVES SYRIA ULTIMATUM”

Breaking: C-802 Missle hit Israeli Ship, not a UAV drone

Fox news has just reported that it was a Chinese C-802 missle that hit the Israeli warship killing two sailors, while it was on-duty blockading the harbor in Lebanon. The two other missing sailors have not yet been found. The Israeli ship was partly towed to it’s harbor after the hit, but halfway through the trip managed enough repairs to start moving on its own engines.

Final Update: Counter Terrorism Blog has a detailed analysis of the C-802 and its capabilities.  Also they note that Israel has deployed Patriot missles, although it’s not likely that they would be effective against this type of missile launched against a ship across water, as noted below these missles have a 98% hit rate vs. ships.

Israel has deployed three PAC-2 Patriot missile batteries near Haifa, “aimed at intercepting missiles launched at the area.” But it is unlikely the PAC-2 can intercept the smaller rockets, such as the Raad, which are being launched against the city. The Patriot systems are designed to shoot down aircraft, and have been modified to shoot down larger, medium range missiles such as SCUDs. “Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) is a surface-to-air guided missile defense system designed to detect, target, and destroy incoming ballistic missiles flying three to five times the speed of sound,” reports MissileThreat.com.

The PAC-2s are being deployed to intercept longer-range missiles (ballistic missiles fired from deeper in Lebanese territory, or perhaps Syria) and to take down UAVs launched from the Lebanese coast.

Continue reading “Breaking: C-802 Missle hit Israeli Ship, not a UAV drone”

Bush and Putin at G8

The good news is that Putin did mostly agree with Bush on substance, if not fully on approach. When Bush stated that Hezbollah was responsible for the violence, Putin agreed. When Bush stated that Syria and Iran needed to exert their influence to stop the violence Putin also agreed. When Bush stated clearly that both Korea and Iran should not have nuclear weapons and missles, Putin agreed. President Bush characterized the six nations negotiating with both Korea and Iran as in agreement, and that the only differences were on semantics and language. Again the head-nod from Putin.

I’ve just watched the press conference held by Presidents Bush and Putin in St. Petersburg at the G8 summit. Bush is a bit jet-lagged, you could tell this was not his time of the day, however he clearly came off as the stronger leader. He was clear on the US positions on trade, the Israeli conflict, Iranian nuclear ambitions, and accession of Russia to the WTO.

Continue reading “Bush and Putin at G8”

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