By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jul 28, 2004
The Hizballah terrorist organization has a huge arsenal of missiles capable of targeting Israeli population centers as far south as Tel Aviv, IDF intelligence chief Major-General Aharon Ze'evi told the cabinet Sunday.
Included in that arsenal are 13,000 short-range rockets, up to 500 missiles with a range of 45-75 kilometers, and, Israel believes, several dozen missiles with a range of up to 200 kilometers, Ze’evi reported.
Ze’evi added that Hizballah had recently participated in Syrian tests to fit some of these missiles with chemical warheads.
A respected Christian Zionist leader responded to these reports Tuesday by noting it was Israel’s reckless retreat from southern Lebanon that had allowed Hizballah to set up a mini-state that now threatens the lives of millions of Jews.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s planned flight from Gaza would result in a Hamas mini-state posing a similar threat to Israel, warned Jan Willem van der Hoeven, director of the International Christian Zionist Center.
Northern menace
Hizballah’s massive stockpile of short-range Katyusha rockets has long been known to, and used against Israel’s Jewish citizens.
It’s growing arsenal of medium-range missiles is known to include Iranian-made Fajar 3 and Fajar 5 rockets, as well as Syrian-made 200-millimeter rockets, Ze’evi reported, indicating Damascus and Tehran are actively arming their terrorist proxy.
Of most concern, however, was intelligence suggesting Hizballah had taken part in recent Syrian tests to fit its medium-range missiles with chemical warheads.
Those rockets are capable of striking targets up to 75 kilometers away, putting the coastal city of Haifa well within range.
Adding to this threat, Israel believes Hizballah has acquired several dozen long-range missiles capable of striking the densely populated Greater Tel Aviv area, Ze’evi told the cabinet.
Israel’s folly
That Israel’s major population centers are now threatened by a rogue Islamic terror group capable of launching a chemical missile barrage is the fault of Israel’s short-sighted leadership, according to van der Hoeven.
By recklessly and unilaterally retreating from southern Lebanon in May 2000, “Israel was responsible for creating the Hizballah mini-terrorist state that today threatens” the lives of millions of Israel’s Jews, he wrote.
For the past four years, Hizballah has been allowed to increase its strength largely checked="checked"="checked="checked"" by Israel and the West.
Periodic instance from Washington that Syria disarm Hizballah has been met with scorn and noncompliance. The US has to date failed to follow up on its demands.
Van der Hoeven warned that Sharon’s plan to surrender the Gaza Strip to “Palestinian” control would result in the formation of a similarly checked="checked"="checked="checked"" Hamas mini-state.
And once Gaza is flooded with the same missiles currently deployed in southern Lebanon, southern Israel will be under the same terrorist missile threat plaguing the north.
“Nevertheless,” van der Hoeven prays, “may God's wisdom prevail upon the beloved leaders of this nation at this very late moment!”
Call to arms
That wisdom is starting to find a voice among Israel’s military brass.
Last week, the IDF General Staff concluded that Hizballah, while building up and deploying its long-range strategic strike capability, was engaging in a campaign of sporadic low-level border skirmishes aimed at eroding Israel’s air of deterrence.
That assessment came after Hizballah snipers shot dead two IDF soldiers working on an antenna along the northern border.
At present, Ze’evi told the cabinet Sunday, Hizballah knows it has no justification for launching its missile arsenal against Israel.
But constant cross-border aggression may eventually elicit the kind of Israeli response that Hizballah could use as justification for a full missile barrage on the Jewish state.
And Israel is allowing the approximately 500 Hizballah operatives to carry out this scheme with near impunity, one military source was quoted as saying.
As such, the Middle East Newsline reported, the General Staff was seeking government approval for a large-scale incursion into southern Lebanon that would drive Hizballah and Iranian terrorists from the area and destroy their missile arsenal.