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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Air Force Shortened Response Time To Gaza Rocket Cells |
| 2012-06-25 |
| Air force says it has shortened its response time when sighting Gazoo rocket cells. Six terror squads were hit before they could fire in latest escalation; Israeli counter-strikes can now take mere seconds Rocket-launching terror squads in Gazoo used to have several minutes to set up their weapons, shoot them and disappear before Israel could muster any counter action. Today, an Israeli military official says, the cells have mere moments before they are spotted and targeted by Israeli missiles, thanks to streamlined intelligence and more readily available firepower. "If in the past it would it would take a considerable amount of time from sighting (a terror squad) till being able to fire on them, meaning that you would lose (sight of) the squad, today that hardly ever happens," an air force official told The Times of Israel. In the most recent two rounds of confrontation, the air force has been able to eliminate a growing proportion of the Gazoo rocket cells before they can fire off a projectile, the official said. He confirmed that, in the escalation of the past few days, six squads were successfully targeted while in the process of trying to fire on Israel. Some 150 rockets and mortars were fired from Gazoo toward Israel over the past week. The flare-up began on June 16 when two Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.... were fired from the Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel. Two days later, three Sinai-based terrorists, from the newly-established, al-Qaeda-affiliated Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem snuck into Israel and opened fire on construction workers building the fence along the Israel-Egypt border, killing Said Fashfasha of Haifa. Later in the day, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, squads began firing on Israel. The IAF responded with a series of strikes and counter strikes. The terror squads often fire from within the low cover of the Gazoo Strip's many citrus orchards, blending in with trees and civilians in the region. The air force official said that if the weaponry is prepared in advance, the terror squads can fire a rocket within seconds of their arrival at the launch area. But the air force, he said, has shortened its response time. From the moment a squad is sighted, it takes "between several seconds and several minutes" for Israel to act. The official could not be more explicit about the manner in which the process has been expedited but he did say that today, in the Southern Command, the officers in charge of gathering either intelligence information or incoming surveillance photos, detailing the work of terror squads, "sit at the same desk" as those air force officers who have the capacity to order the strikes. He did not elaborate on what type of aircraft are used in the strikes. Hamas, which did not participate in the previous round of violence in March, claims on its website to have mostly targeted military installations in southern Israel this time, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. The IAF officer disputed this, saying that the main characteristic of the latest round of violence was short-range fire, mostly beneath the range of the Iron Dome batteries, which can pick up incoming projectiles from within several kilometers to several dozen kilometers away. The IAF's advances have been partially countered by Hamas ingenuity, the official acknowledged. The Izz al-Din al Qassam brigades, responsible for most of the fire on Israel during this round of violence, have begun using cellular-activated timers on their rockets, allowing them to fire from a concealed position. "Hamas," the official said, "is an organization that never stops trying to improve itself." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 yes the IAF can now respond faster however, much of the response is low yield projectiles from IAF UAVs |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2012-06-25 17:39 |
| #2 "does Israel shoot back when the shells come from Egyptian Sinai?"None of anyone elses business now. Israel will NEVER run from Egupt again. Ever. Tread them usunder. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-06-25 00:35 |
| #1 does Israel shoot back when the shells come from Egyptian Sinai? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2012-06-25 00:20 |