Israel to Deploy 'Iron Dome' Anti-Rocket System

ERUSALEM - Israel will deploy its "Iron Dome" multi-million-dollar missile defense system in southern Israel for the first time next week in the wake of rocket attacks from Gaza, officials said March 25.
"I authorized the army to deploy in the next few days the first battery of 'Iron Dome' for an operational trial," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said as he toured the tense Gaza Strip border.

The order comes after a spate of rocket fire by Gaza militants in recent days, some of them striking deep into Israel.
The deployment of the Iron Dome interceptor, designed to combat short-range rocket threats from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, has been delayed until now with officials saying operating crews needed more training and suggestions the system was prohibitively expensive.
The system, developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems with the help of U.S. funding, is designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between four and 70 kilometres (three and 45 miles).
Each battery comprises detection and tracking radar, state-of-the-art fire control software and three launchers, each with 20 interceptor missiles, military sources said.
However, Barak said the deployment would be experimental and partial and complete protection could take years.
"The complete acquisition of Iron Dome will take a number of years, dependant on suitable funding," he said.
Militants in Gaza and those allied with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia have fired thousands of projectiles at Israel in the past.
The system will first be along the border of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, from where militants fired a daily barrage of home-made rockets prompting Israel to launch a devastating 22-day offensive in December 2008.
It will then be deployed along the Lebanese border, from where Hezbollah militants fired some 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during a 2006 war. It was that experience which prompted the development of Iron Dome.
Israel believes Hezbollah now has an arsenal of some 40,000 rockets.
In May, U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress to give Israel 205 million dollars to develop the system, on top of the annual $3 billion Israel receives from Washington.
Iron Dome will join the Arrow long-range ballistic missile defense system in an ambitious multi-layered program to protect Israeli cities from rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Syria and Iran.
A third system, known as David's Sling, it currently being developed with the aim of countering medium-range missiles.

Middle East Boils with Libya Strikes, Yemen on Brink

SANAA - The Middle East boiled March 21 after fresh air strikes in Libya, a mass protest in Syria and Yemen on the brink after top generals backed protesters battling to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Tanks took up positions in key locations across Yemen's capital Sanaa including at the presidential palace, the central bank and the ministry of defense, but it was unclear what their orders were or who was in command.

In the first of a series of body blows to Saleh's authority, Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the Northwest Military District which includes Sanaa, announced he had joined the "revolution."
"The crisis is getting more complicated and it's pushing the country towards violence and civil war," the general said in a statement.
"According to what I'm feeling, and according to the feelings of my partner commanders and soldiers... I announce our support and our peaceful backing to the youth revolution.
"We are going to fulfill our duties in preserving security and stability."
Ahmar was followed by fellow generals Mohammed Ali Mohsen, the Eastern Military district chief, Nasser Ali Shuaybi in Hadramawt province and Faisal Rajab in the southern province of Lahij.
Dozens of officers of various ranks went to the tent city near Sanaa University, where demonstrators have kept vigil since Feb. 21 in spite of a wave of attacks, and publicly pledged to support the revolution.
The deputy speaker of parliament, Himyar al-Ahmar, and the governor of the key southern province of Aden, Ahmed Qaatabi, also resigned in protest at the treatment of demonstrators.
Sadiq al-Ahmar, who leads the Hashid tribal federation, the largest in deeply tribal Yemen and a crucial source of Saleh's power, told Al-Jazeera it was time for the embattled president to make a "quiet exit."
The defections came a day after Saleh sacked his cabinet in a bid to placate opposition calls for sweeping reforms in the key U.S. ally.
The regime has already lost the support of religious leaders and been weakened by the resignations of ministers, ambassadors and a host of ruling party MPs, but Saleh has refused to stand down until his term ends in 2013.
He said March 21 the majority of the people were behind him.
His regime was internationally condemned after more than 50 people were killed when loyalist gunmen opened fire March 18 on protesters in Sanaa's University Square, the centre of the pro-democracy movement.
The defection of top military officers to the opposition is likely to complicate Washington's support for Saleh, whom it sees as a pillar of stability in a volatile country and a partner in the war against Al-Qaeda.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Cairo on March 21, strongly condemned the use of live ammunition against demonstrators in Yemen, and repeated international calls for dialogue and restraint.
In Syria thousands marched for the fourth straight day in the southern town of Daraa, after the funeral of a protester killed in the previous day's demonstration when security forces opened fire, a resident said.
"Just God, Syria and Freedom," and "Revolution, revolution" chanted the demonstrators, according to the resident who said security forces used tear gas and made several arrests in a bid to break up the protest.
The protesters, who have been inspired by regime-changing revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, are demanding "freedom" and an end to 48 years of emergency laws in Syria under President Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez.
In Libya, Western forces launched new air strikes overnight, flattening a building in leader Moammar Gadhafi's Tripoli compound, while the Arab League reaffirmed its backing for a no-fly zone over the revolt-hit country authorized by the United Nations.
Gadhafi's troops retreated 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the insurgents' capital of Benghazi after fierce strafing by coalition aircraft destroyed much of their armor, but beat off a rebel advance on their new positions in the town of Ajdabiya.
Gadhafi's regime accused the coalition forces of violating a ceasefire which the military announced late Sunday, only to be accused by the United States promptly accused Tripoli of lying or of breaching the truce immediately.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said in Cairo on March 21 he fully supported U.N. Resolution 1973, adding that his comments the previous day that the air strikes exceeded the UN mandate had been "misinterpreted."
Mussa said his earlier criticism had been motivated by concerns about civilians being caught up in the coalition strikes, as Arab governments did not want to see more deaths in Libya.
Ban, speaking at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, said, "It is important that the international community speak with one voice" to implement the resolution."
But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slammed the U.N. resolution - which Moscow declined to veto at the Security Council - as a "medieval call to crusade" on March 21 and hit out at Washington for its readiness to resort to force.
In a fourth regional hotspot, Bahrain's King Hamad said the monarchy had foiled a "foreign plot" against Gulf countries, "prepared over a period of 30, maybe 20 years."
He was speaking to officers of a Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council force invited into Bahrain last week ahead of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Shiite-majority country that is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.
Tension has heightened between Bahrain and its Shiite neighbor Iran, which has seen tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats.

Israel Navy Snags Another Smuggling Ship

tel aviv - The Israel Navy's seizure last week of Iranian C704 anti-ship missiles and other munitions marked the latest in the escalating, yet still indirect, tit-for-tat confrontations between Jerusalem and Tehran.
The nonviolent intercept of the Liberian-flagged Victoria container ship, and its estimated 50-ton concealed arms cache, occurred some 380 kilometers off Israel's southern coast. The incident again demonstrated the long arm of Israeli intelligence and Israel's readiness for maritime operations following the bloody, botched takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish ship last May.

The successful seizure of Iranian weaponry - Israel's fourth in a decade - also was a sweet reward for security officials here, who stood by in frustration as the Iranian Navy tested the post-Mubarak Egyptian waters with its first Suez Canal passage in more than 30 years.
Israeli officials said the ship carrying Iranian-produced, Chinese-designed C704 missiles, 120mm mortars and other munitions was headed for the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. From there, the cache was to have been transported through the Sinai and into Gaza via underground tunnels along the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Israeli intelligence said the cargo was loaded at the Syrian port city of Latakia, sailed to Cyprus, then Beirut and then to a port in southern Turkey before Israel Navy commandos intercepted it en route to Alexandria.
"Iranian arms flowing into Gaza are not coming in drip by drip but wave by wave," Danny Ayalon, Israeli deputy foreign minister, told diplomats invited to Israel's Ashdod port to view the confiscated contraband.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel's battle against the axis of Iran, Syria and Lebanon-based Hezbollah - each working to support terror groups in the Gaza Strip - would continue "by air, sea and land in every place and from every direction, both near and far."
The C704s would have introduced a new capability into the Gaza theater of operations that would have required the Israeli military to modify its operating and protective procedures, given the missile's 35-kilometer range.

Iranian Warships Headed Home Via Suez

TEHRAN - Two Iranian warships that entered the Mediterranean last month, sparking an outcry from Israel, have passed through the Suez Canal back into the Red Sea, naval commander Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayari said March 5.
"The flotilla ... has completed its mission successfully in the Mediterranean Sea and has returned to the Red Sea transiting through the Suez Canal," the official news agency IRNA quoted Sayari as saying.

It was the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Iranian warships had entered the Mediterranean, and Israel described the move as a "political provocation."
The frigate Alvand and supply ship Kharg passed through the Suez Canal on Feb. 22 and docked two days later at the Syrian port of Latakia.
Sayari did not say when the warships began their return journey, but said it took them "10-12 hours to transit" the canal. He said the flotilla conveyed a message of "peace and friendship to friendly countries."
Israel, which considers Iran its biggest threat after repeated predictions by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of its demise, put its navy on alert during the flotilla's mission.
Analysts say the deployment was an attempt by Iran to project its clout in the region at a time when anti-government protests sweeping the Arab world from Casablanca to Cairo are shifting the regional balance of power.
The Suez Canal Authority said last month that ships of any nationality can pass through "as long as the country is not in a state of war with Egypt."

Russia Vows to Sell Missiles to Syria

MOSCOW - Russia announced Feb. 26 that it intended to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with cruise missiles despite the turmoil shaking the Arab world and Israel's furious condemnation of the deal.
"The contract is in the implementation stage," news agencies quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying.

Russia initially agreed to send a large shipment of anti-ship Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria in 2007 under the terms of a controversial deal that was only disclosed by Serdyukov in September 2010.
The revelation infuriated Israel and the United States and there had been speculation that Russia would decide to tear up the contract amid the current turmoil plaguing North Africa and the Middle East.
Israel - which is still technically in a state of war with Syria and fears its close ties with Iran - suspects that the shipment is ultimately aimed at supplying Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.
The disputed sale is believed to be worth at least $300 million and is meant to see Syria receive 72 cruise missiles in all.
Russia has not officially confirmed making any Yakhont deliveries to date.
But Interfax cited one unnamed military source as saying that Russia had already sent Syria two Bastion coastal defense systems that can include up to 36 Yakhont missiles each.
The feared systems can only operate when equipped with radar and target detection helicopters and it was not clear from Serdyukov's comments which supplies - if any - had already been received by Syria.
Serdyukov's comments come amid Russian efforts to keep its military supply lines open to the Middle East despite the wave of revolutions and social unrest currently sweeping the region.
A source in the Russian arms exports industry said this week that the fall of the region's regimes may see the country lose about $10 billion dollars in contracts.
Serdyukov himself confirmed that the unrest may force Russia to give up some of its Soviet-era clients in the Arab world.
"There is a chance we might lose something," the defense minister said on a visit on visit to Russia's Pacific port city of Vladivostok.
"But I hope that the main weapons and military equipment agreements will be fulfilled," Serdyukov said.
Russia's sales to Syria have come under particularly close scrutiny because of fears that Moscow may be also covertly assisting Damascus' nascent nuclear program.
The head of the country's arms export corporation in October denied that Russia had also signed an agreement to supply Syria with its latest range of MiG-31 fighter jets.
But the same agency confirmed in May that Russia was in the process of supplying Syria with a less advanced fighter jet version - the Mig-29 - along with short-range air defense systems and various armored vehicles.
Russia is the world's second-largest arms exporter behind the United States and its sales are crucial to the country's efforts to keep alive a creaking defense industry whose reforms have dragged on for years.
The military this week announced with some fanfare the start of a $650 billion rearmament drive that will add eight nuclear submarines and hundreds of warplanes to the under-equipped force by 2020.
Serdyukov said Feb. 26 that Russia intended to arm its nuclear submarines with the high-tech Bulava long-range missiles whose deployment is being delayed by a series of embarrassing test failures.
But Russia's last two Bulava launches were successful and Serdyukov said Feb. 26 that the first new missiles would be dispatched to the country's Pacific Fleet.

Israel Remains Alarmed At Iranian Ship Moves

JERUSALEM - Israel views with "gravity" what Iran says is the "routine" dispatch of two warships to the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Feb. 20, as the vessels were expected to pass through the Suez Canal.
During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel viewed the movement as an Iranian power play.

"Today we are witnessing the instability of the region in which we live and in which Iran is trying to profit by extending its influence by dispatching two warships to cross the Suez Canal," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.
"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative and other developments that reinforce what we have said in past years about the Israel's security needs."
Last week, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move a "provocation."
Egypt has given two Iranian ships permission to use the waterway en route to Syria.
The move - the first time Iranian warships will have transit ted the canal since the Islamic revolution of 1979 - is "routine" and "short term," an Iranian diplomat said.
"This will be a routine visit, within international law, in line with the cooperation between Iran and Syria, who have strategic ties," the diplomat said.
"The ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes," having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia."
A senior Suez Canal official said that the warships had yet to reach the waterway, after Iranian television earlier reported that they were already in the Mediterranean.
"No Iranian ships have passed. Not today, not yesterday, not the day before," according to operations room chief Ahmed al-Manakhly.
Manakhly did not say when the Iranian ships were scheduled to arrive, but canal officials have privately said they were expected early Feb. 21.
Kharg has a crew of 250 and can carry up to three helicopters. Alvand is armed with torpedos and anti-ship missiles.
Egypt's MENA news agency reported that the request for the ships to pass through the Suez Canal said they were not carrying weapons, or nuclear or chemical materials.

Iran warships Suez Canal passage 'back on'

The voyage may be part of a training mission for navy cadets

Iran has asked Egypt for permission to send two warships through the Suez Canal, officials have confirmed, after a day of conflicting reports.

Egypt's defence ministry said it was considering the request, hours after reports quoted canal officials as denying any request had been made.
The move has been condemned by Israel's foreign minister as a provocation.

ran has asked Egypt for permission to send two warships through the Suez Canal, officials have confirmed, after a day of conflicting reports.

Egypt's defence ministry said it was considering the request, hours after reports quoted canal officials as denying any request had been made.
The move has been condemned by Israel's foreign minister as a provocation.
It is believed to be the first time since the 1979 revolution that Iran has requested passage through the canal.
There have been conflicting reports throughout the day as to whether the request had been turned down, withdrawn, or had even been made.
But a naval official confirmed to Iran's state-run Press TV that talks were continuing with Cairo.
And Egyptian defence ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told the Associated Press that the request was being considered.
Canal officials deal with regular shipping requests, but naval requests are decided by the defence ministry.
Analysts say the ministry rarely turns down a request.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported in January that Iranian navy cadets were going on a year-long training mission through Suez and into the Mediterranean, according to Reuters.
But no official reason has been given for the voyage.
It is thought that the ships are heading to Syria, the main ally of Tehran in the region - and a major foe of Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned that his country could not "for ever ignore these provocations".
The ships involved are the frigate Alvand and a supply vessel, the Kharg.
Analysts say the plan presents a headache for the new military leadership in Egypt.
Cairo signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, and has since had frosty ties with Tehran.