Russians raided Israeli airfields in Georgia that were to be used against Iran
Pastor Dale Morgan
Friday, September 05, 2008
Israel Matzav
*Russians raided Israeli airfields in Georgia that were to be used
against Iran*
UPI's Arnaud De Borchgrave is reporting that one of the reasons that
Russia started a war with Georgia last month was as a pretext to raid
two airfields that Tbilisi allowed Israel to use as forward bases for an
attack against Iran's nuclear facilities.
In a secret agreement between Israel and Georgia, two military airfields
in southern Georgia had been earmarked for the use of Israeli
fighter-bombers in the event of pre-emptive attacks against Iranian
nuclear installations. This would sharply reduce the distance Israeli
fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran. And to reach
Georgian airstrips, the Israeli air force would fly over Turkey.
The attack ordered by Saakashvili against South Ossetia the night of
Aug. 7 provided the Russians the pretext for Moscow to order Special
Forces to raid these Israeli facilities where some Israeli drones were
reported captured.
At a Moscow news conference, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy
chief of staff, said the extent of Israeli aid to Georgia included
"eight types of military vehicles, explosives, landmines and special
explosives for clearing minefields." Estimated numbers of Israeli
trainers attached to the Georgian army range from 100 to 1,000. There
were also 110 U.S. military personnel on training assignments in
Georgia. Last July 2,000 U.S. troops were flown in for "Immediate
Response 2008," a joint exercise with Georgian forces.
Details of Israel's involvement were largely ignored by Israeli media
lest they be interpreted as another blow to Israel's legendary military
prowess, which took a bad hit in the Lebanese war against Hezbollah two
years ago. Georgia's top diplomat in Tel Aviv complained about Israel's
"lackluster" response to his country's military predicament and called
for "diplomatic pressure on Moscow." According to the Jerusalem Post,
the Georgian was told "the address for that type of pressure is Washington."
Haaretz reported Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili -- who is Jewish,
the newspaper said -- told Israeli army radio that "Israel should be
proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers" because he
explained rather implausibly, "a small group of our soldiers were able
to wipe out an entire Russian military division, thanks to Israeli
training."
The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis was agreed at the highest levels with
the approval of the Bush administration. The official liaison between
the two entities was Reserve Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch who commanded Israeli
forces on the Lebanese border in July 2006. He resigned from the army
after the Winograd Commission flayed Israel's conduct of its Second
Lebanon War. Hirsch was also blamed for the seizure of two Israeli
soldiers by Hezbollah.
Israeli personnel, working for "private" companies with close ties to
the Israel Defense Forces, also trained Georgian soldiers in
house-to-house fighting.
Read the whole thing. De Borchgrave surprisingly leaves open the
possibility that Israel may still be able to use the Georgian facilities
for an attack on Iran. But Israel likely has bigger problems resulting
from this raid. This is from DEBKA:
Our sources say that if the Russians got hold of an Israeli unmanned
aerial vehicle complete with sophisticated electronic reconnaissance
equipment, they will have secured some of the IDF’s most secret devices
for spying on Iran and Syria.
When this happened before, Russian military engineers quickly dismantled
the equipment, studied it and passed the technology on to Tehran and
Damascus.
Not good. With all the 'private contractors' Israel has training
Georgian troops, one has to wonder whether Israeli personnel were
guarding our country's own equipment. And if they were, why did they let
this happen? Does anyone wonder anymore why the Americans insist on
controlling their own equipment when they bring it here?
On the other hand, DEBKA also claims that flying time from the Georgian
bases to Iran's nuclear facilities is three and a half hours. Given that
it's only 900 miles from the relevant points in Israel to the relevant
points in Iran, if DEBKA is correct, that would not be a whole lot of
savings.
By the way, the picture at the top of this post is of Elbit's Hermes 450
drone, which of course is manufactured in Israel.