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Anti
Tank Weapons Inflict Heavy Losses on Israeli Army
08/10...

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Anti-Tank Weapons Inflict Heavy Losses on Israeli

Army
By MARIUS SCHATTNER, REUTERS, JERUSALEM

Powerful anti-tank missiles manufactured by Russia and Iran are being used with deadly
effectiveness by Hizbollah against the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, military sources
say.
A large proportion of the 68 Israeli soldiers who have died in south Lebanon since the start
of the offensive a month ago were killed by such missiles.
Top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot reported Aug. 10 that out of 25 anti-tank missiles fired,
about one-quarter of them pierced the armor of targeted tanks and caused heavy losses.
The terrorists know where the weak spots are, and we are being badly hit, the newspaper
quotes a senior official as saying.
The attacks are a blow to the pride of Israels army. Merkava III and IV tanks are
considered among the most powerful in the world and have a reputation for extremely
resistant armor and protective systems.
Merkavas boast 1,200 horsepower and are equipped with state-of-the-art electronic
systems that should make them some of the safest and most mobile tanks in the world.
But Israels tanks, crucial for any ground operation in southern Lebanon, have proved
vulnerable to the attacks of Hizbollah and ill-adapted to the hilly and heavily wooded terrain.
Israeli military officials have also admitted surprise at the level of resistance they are
meeting from Hizbollah fighters, who are well-trained and have been firing at tanks from
very close range.
The bulk of the Shiite militias anti-weapons are Russian-made models, although some
were manufactured in Iran, said expert Yiftah Shapir from the Jaffee Center for Strategic
Studies.
The most efficient missiles are the Metis-M and the Kornet manufactured by Russia and
delivered to Syria in the nineties, he told AFP.
They are very lethal because they have been designed to penetrate active armor on
modern tanks such as those the Israelis were the first to introduce in the early eighties,
Shapir said.
Hizbollah also has the latest Sagger missile, a Russian weapon manufactured in Iran, as
well as the Russian Spigot, the expert said.
These missiles have the ability to pierce armor as thick as one meter (39 inches) and have
a range of 1.5 to five kilometers (one to three miles).

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2014598&C=landwar

17/09/2007

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The Israeli army knew that Hizbollah had a large arsenal of missiles, but maybe they didnt
know they had the Metis-M and the Kornet, Shapir added.
Yediot Aharonot quoted a senior military official as saying the armys lack of preparedness
for the threat of anti-tank missiles is a bigger failure than that which preceded the Yom
Kippur War.
The Israeli army has dramatically underestimated Egypts ground forces ahead of the 1973
Arab-Israeli conflict.
The problem isnt technical, said Shapir. They will always end up finding the answer to
the new generation of missiles just like they did in the past.
The most important thing is that the Israeli army finally understand that they are not up
against a gang of terrorists but a real army.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2014598&C=landwar

17/09/2007