Saturday afternoon, HizballahÂ’s Hassan Nasrallah threatened to send more rockets into central Israeli cities after Afula was hit Friday night. Playing it safe, Israel also adjusted the orbits of its military satellites to allow them to track any Hizballah missiles at the moment they are launched from Lebanon. Military experts believe that the Israeli air force, supported by these hi tech systems, will be able to intercept an Iran-made Zilzal-2 long-range missile, whose 250-km range puts Tel Aviv within reach, before it enters Israeli air space.
DEBKAfileÂ’s military experts add: If one of those missiles is intercepted only after it shoots across Israeli skies, Hizballah will count it a success, because of the potential damage falling debris from the intruding missile and its interceptor can cause on the ground below.
This lesson was learned in the 1991 Gulf War, when Patriot anti-missile interceptions caught up too late with Saddam HusseinÂ’s Scud missile as they homed into Israel towns.
Our sources add that from Saturday, July 29, the tempo of the American munitions airlift to Israel, begun last Wednesday, as DEBKAfile revealed exclusively, has speeded up. During Saturday, giant US Air Force C-114 cargo transports en route for Israel touched down in Scotland for refueling every few hours. |