Communist Web Wednesday 29th March 2000 9.30pm gmt Israel Deploys Arrow-2 Missiles Along Israel- Lebanon Border Israel has deployed several batteries of Arrow-2 anti-missile missiles along the Israeli- Lebanese borders, the Lebanon News Agency reported on Monday. Israel announced to be the first country in the world to have the capacity to defend itself against ballistic missile attacks with its newly developed Arrow-2 missile defense system in operation on March 12. The Arrow-2 system, a U.S.-Israel joint venture including missiles, launchers, radar and the control and command system, cost 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to develop. The system is capable of dealing with Scud and Scud-derived ballistic missiles in the arsenals of Syria, Iran and Iraq. Its early warning and fire-control system is designed to pick up and track incoming missiles from a distance of 500 kilometers, while its control and command system can guide the launches of the interceptors and is capable of dealing with up to 14 intercepts at a time. The report of the missile deployment came when Israeli warplanes bombed south Lebanon on Monday. Israeli fighter jets fired six air-to-ground missiles on the outskirts of the Qabrikha village in the Iglem Tufaah region, south of the port city of Tyre, without inflicting casualties, said the report. Earlier in the day, Israeli jets fired four missiles in two raids on the deserted region of Sujud at the edge of the central sector of the Israeli-occupied security zone in south Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties from the bombardment so far. Israel carved out a self-styled 15-kilometer-deep security zone in 1985 in south Lebanon with a claimed aim of protecting its northern border from cross-border guerrilla attacks. The Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, or Party of God, is spearheading a guerrilla war in the zone to oust the Israeli troops and their ally South Lebanon Army from south Lebanon, the last... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/israeldeploys/israeldeploys.html
