Iran Ordered Attack on Israel, Official Says

Kenneth R. Timmerman
Monday, July 24, 2006 Middle East expert Kenneth R. Timmerman is in Israel covering the conflict there. He reports from Maatat.
MAATAT, Israel -- On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's much-awaited trip to Israel on Monday, a senior Israeli official said that Iran had coordinated the Hezbollah attacks on Israel on July 12 that sparked the current Israeli military action.
Iran's goal was to "deflect world attention from its nuclear bomb-building program," veteran government spokesman Avi Posner told NewsMax in an exclusive interview.
"Even the timing of this operation [against Israel] was coordinated with Iran," he added.
That coordination was extraordinary, and has gone largely unreported.
On July 11 – just the day before the Hezbollah kidnappings – the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, flew suddenly to Damascus, after stonewalling European foreign ministers in Brussels over Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Larijani is a top personal adviser to Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and was accompanied to Damascus by the head of Iran's intelligence ministry, Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei.
Their departure from Brussels was reported by the official Iranian News Agency, IRNA. But their flight from Brussels to Damascus, on board a special military aircraft, was not.
"Before the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, Iran wanted to deflect world attention from Iran's nuclear bomb-building activities," Posner said.
And they succeeded. Instead of focusing as planned on the Iranian nuclear program, the G-8 summit tackled a broad range of world problems, starting with the emerging Middle East crisis between Israel and Hezbollah.
While Posner did not allege that Iran orchestrated the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers the day after Larijani's arrival in Damascus, an Israeli military official told NewsMax - in an exclusive interview at this military outpost overlooking the Lebanese border - that Hezbollah had been preparing the kidnappings for months.
All Hezbollah had been lacking was the political go-ahead to carry out the operation, he said.
Hezbollah fighters had attempted to cross the electronic fence along Israel's border to kidnap Israeli soldiers six months before their successful July 12 operation, but were intercepted by Israeli troops.
"They learned from their mistakes," the military official said. "This time, they knew to place their booby trap in a blind spot in our video surveillance coverage. They knew exactly when the Hummer was coming. They knew exactly how much time they needed to cut through the fence, kidnap our guys and get back through the fence into Lebanon."
Israel has built a fence along the entire 150 kilometer (96 mile) border with Lebanon, equipped with electronic sensors to detect intruders and video cameras. But it still takes Israeli troops up to 20 minutes to respond to intrusions, especially if they occur off-camera.
The entire operation on July 12 took an estimated five minutes, the military official said. A Hezbollah get-away vehicle was waiting on the other side of the fence for the commando that kidnapped the two Israeli soldiers.
Posner believes there is a "direct link" between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
"Nasrallah is the puppet of Ahmadinejad," Posner told NewsMax.
"Together, they have created a very dangerous situation. They are building on our northern frontier a terrorist entity that threatens not only Israel, but the stability of all the Middle East."
Iran's direct involvement in the current war is one reason why Posner and other Israeli officials no longer believe that the United States or the European Union plans to pressure them for a quick ceasefire.
"When we fight Hezbollah, behind it we are facing the big shadow of Iran," Posner said.
"This might explain why Israel is enjoying such a broad base of support from the international community," he said.
At an Israeli military base described as a "jumping off point" for future ground operations inside Lebanon, Israeli Brig. Gen. Shuki Shakrur provided new details Sundday to NewsMax of Iranian weapons used to strike Israel.
"Hezbollah has used their entire arsenal against us," Gen. Shakrur said.
With Iranian help, Hezbollah has modified the Soviet-standard 122 mm Katyusha rockets, extending their range so they can reach targets up to 35 kilometers distant.
These modified "Raed" rockets have been used to hit targets north of Haifa, and all through central Galilee.
In addition, Iran has provided 240 mm Fajr 3 missiles, with a range of 45-50 kilometers, which have been used against downtown Haifa.
Sunday, a succession of Hezbollah rocket attacks killed 2 people in Haifa and wounded another 27 civilians. Sunday's deaths were the first civilian casualties since the deadly rocket attack last Sunday on a railway repair depot in Haifa that killed eight railway workers.
Sunday is a working day in Israel.
General Shakrur noted that Israel has managed to prevent a significant number of rockets from being launched from Hezbollah positions inside Lebanon through real time intelligence.
"We have to be very accurate and very quick," he said.
Israeli artillery batteries at nearby positions in Maatat pounded Hezbollah launch positions throughout the day, responding to real time intelligence input.
Israeli military sources said they had "a two to three minute window" to act on intelligence, so there was close coordination between signals intelligence and operational command centers in the field.
Last week, the Israeli Air Force managed to destroy a battery of long-range Iranian "Zelzal" missiles on their launch pad, Gen. Shakrur said.
During the strike, one of the missiles misfired and hit Beirut, leading to mistaken press reports that Hezbollah had shot down an Israeli jet fighter.
The Zelzal is the only guided missile Iran is believed to have supplied to Hezbollah.
With a range estimated at 120 km (75 miles), it would allow Hezbollah to target strategic facilities such as oil refineries and chemical plants in Haifa, which they have missed until now with the less accurate Fajr and katyusha rockets.

Lol, Now don't let the ninnyhammers that post half smashed on Budweiser coolade mess up your fine objective attitude. Subjectivity as parlayed by some of your opposition is nice. Trouble is you can't even buy a fishhead and a Mars bar with it. But still it's nice. So is Utopia. Wish I could find someone who has been there.

If you possibly can Aunty. Get a copy of Orianna Falacci's book. "The Force of Reason" She does a excellent job of explaining what Islamic Fundamentalists are all about. Even better she points out that the status quo in Europe is already so changed as to be nearly unfixable. I really think you would finde the data interesting. She has had so many death threats that it's a wonder she is still alive.