mosze_zblisko_daleka
16.10.07, 20:11
PM Ehud Olmert and defense chiefs inspect long-range missile Arrow interceptor
unit Tuesday
October 16, 2007, 4:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
An Arrow anti-missile battery
Olmert, deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby
Ashkenazi and air force chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi, who also commands the
Iranian war sector, were briefed Tuesday, Oct. 16, on the preparedness of
Arrow missile defense batteries for a possible war contingency. DEBKAfile’s
military sources report the unit recently acquired a third Arrow battery and
so completed its deployment for a potential simultaneous attack from the east
by Iran and the north by Syria.
The prime minister was told how the Israeli anti-missile batteries are
designed to synchronize with their American counterparts.
Defense minister Ehud Barak was due to meet US defense secretary Robert Gates
and Pentagon chiefs in Washington later Tuesday to discuss the missile threat.
Monday, Gates said he did not rule out a possible military option against Iran.
Our military sources note a number of steps that point to US and Israeli
military and intelligence bracing for the initial stages of a potential
conflict with Iran and Syria, should one erupt, focusing on their missiles
striking civilian homeland targets and military infrastructure, such as
command centers, missile bases and air force installations.
Intensive preparations have been afoot for some weeks, DEBKAfile’s sources
report, to set up large public shelters in the northern Israeli towns of
Haifa, Nahariya, Acre, Carmiel and Safed. Homeland Front officers and civil
engineers have been inspecting the sites of underground facilities of parking
areas, shopping malls, factories and high-rise buildings and directing their
conversion into bomb shelters able to accommodate thousands of civilians in
the event of a missile assault.
These activities will soon be extended to all parts of Israel. The last time
the country saw such preparations was 40 years ago, prior to the Six Day War.
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