Britannia Radio

Iran builds nuclear-capable cruise missile able to strike Israel from afar 

DEBKAfile Special Report May 11, 2010, 

Tags:  Iranian cruise missile   

Yair Shamir 

Iran's new KH-55 cruise missile

"This is an extremely serious threat to Israel," Yair Shamir, chairman of Israel's Aerospace Industries warned in a lecture, naming the new weapon as the KH-55 cruise missile, based on a model Tehran received from Ukraine in 2006 and upgraded - together with an air-launched version. 
"The pace of missile development (in Iran) is much faster that that of the solutions," Shamir said. "The new element is that Iran is already in space" - an intimation that its activities in space were a key element in accelerating Tehran's missile program.

Shamir rarely talks in public on security matters. DEBKAfile's military sources report he apparently found it necessary to speak out in view of the defense minister Ehud Barak's soothing assessments, his efforts to downplay the peril from Tehran and denials that Iranhad become an existential threat to Israel.
The defense minister was also challenged by President Shimon Peres who, speaking inMoscow Monday, May 11, cautioned against nonchalance in the face of the threats to destroy Israel, which came mainly from Tehran.  
(He also noted that no ruler but Syria's Bashar Assad would try to pretend that missiles for Hizballah were harbingers of peace.)
DEBKAfile's military sources note that Shamir's was the first authoritative voice to verifyIran's possession of a nuclear-capable, long-range-missile capable of striking Israel without leaving its own airspace. The rumors of its acquisition circulating for some years had been treated with some skepticism. Now, Western sources confirm that Ukraine did indeed sell Irana dozen KH-55 missiles capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads, but they are not sure if the warheads were part of the consignment or just the diagrams and instructions on how to fit them.
The Israeli aerospace expert disclosed that Iranian scientists are working on lengthening the cruise missile's range beyond its regular 2.500 kilometers and developing a version for the use of fighter bombers. This would enable Iranian warplanes to shoot missiles against targets not only in Israel but as far away as Central Europe, without leaving their own airspace and risking exposure to American or Israeli air attack.

Al Qaeda tears through eight Iraqi cities, leaves more than 100 dead
DEBKAfile Special Report
May 11, 2010, 12:54 AM (GMT+02:00) 

Tags:  Al Qaeda   Iraq 

Suicide bomber hits Hillah, Iraq

In an unprecedentedly wild rampage, even for al Qaeda, raider-units, speeding drive-by gun squads, car bombs and homicidal suicides mowed down checkpoints, liquidated Iraqi soldiers, police and security personnel and murdered civilians in eight Iraqi cities including the capital, Baghdad, Monday, May 10. By the end of the day, more than 100 people were dead and 300 injured.
The gunmen used automatic weapons fitted with silencers to creep up on their victims.

 

Read more

New arms deal expected in Medvedev's Damascus visit
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
May 10, 2010, 1:44 PM (GMT+02:00) 

Tags:  Medvedev   Russian arms deal  Syria 

Dmitry Medvedev visits Damascus

DEBKAfile'sWashington and military sources report Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's first visit to Damascus is expected to produce major arms deals, also providing a back door for Iran to receive sophisticated Russian hardware thus far withheld. The Russian president's three-day visit is seen as an important boost for Bashar Assad and the Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas bloc versus pro-Western Middle East powers and a failed mark for the Obama-Clinton drive to woo the Syrian ruler.

Read more