Israeli Military Says Missile Struck Warship Instead of Drone
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Here's a story that provides the best overall information I have yet seen on the nature of the attack, the status of the missing, why the missile got through, and the type of damage. Convinces me all the more that the pictures we have seen on this thread of damage are not pictures of the damage this ship sustained at all. Here's the story.utelore said:
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IDF finds bodies of missing sailors aboard damaged Navy ship
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Staff and News Agencies
July 16, 2006
The remains of three missing Israel Defense Forces soldiers who disappeared when their warship was attacked by Hezbollah off the coast of Lebanon were found Sunday aboard the damaged vessel, military officials said.
The body of a fourth soldier hurt in the attack was identified Saturday as Staff Sergeant Tal Amgar, 21, from Ashdod.
He will be buried on Sunday at 4.00 P.M. in the military section of the Ashdod cemetery.
The three soldiers have been named as Sergeant Yoni Hershkovitz, 21, from Haifa; Corporal Shai Atias, 19, from Rishon Letzion and First Staff Sergeant Dov Shteinshos, 37, from Carmiel.
Their remains will be undergo autopsies at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.
The incident occurred close to 8 P.M., west of Beirut, when the INS Spear, a Saar-5 Class destroyer, was on patrol as part of the naval blockade imposed on Lebanon since Wednesday.
The Saar-5 class is equipped with very advanced defensive systems. However, these were not in operation at the time of the attack, partly because of the number of IAF aircraft operating in the area. It was feared that if the system was in operation, it would mistakenly identify friendly aircraft as enemy targets and engage them.
The Navy has already issued new orders to its vessels operating off Lebanon.
The missile struck the vessel near its helicopter landing pad at the rear of the ship. A large explosion caused the landing pad to cave in and be engulfed in flames that threatened the aviation fuel storage below.
The blaze and the darkness made it difficult to discern the nature of the attack and the missing soldiers. Repeated count of the crew showed that four were missing. Only later was one body discovered in the rear of the ship.
Initial assessment held that the ship had been struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with explosives. However, later in the night it became clear that a missile had hit INS Spear.
The missile, is a C-802 radar-guided anti-shipping missile manufactured in Iran using Chinese technology. Its range is estimated to be about 110 km.
Apparently two such missiles were fired on Friday night, one of them hitting INS Spear and the other a Cambodian-flagged freighter, 60 km off shore. A dozen Egyptian sailors from the freighter were picked up by another commercial vessel after their ship sunk following the missile strike.
According to Brigadier General Noam Feig, head of the naval shipyards, the Saar-5 crew "fought the flames and managed to regain self-propulsion. For a while the ship had lost some of its ability to maneuver."
Close to midnight the ship made its way to port where its rudders were repaired.
IDF sources said Saturday that Iran transfered the C-802 missiles to Hezbollah, although intelligence officers noted that they were not sure whether Iranian advisers were involved in the launching of the missiles.
Brigadier Feig said that the Navy had no intelligence that such missiles were in the Hezbollah arsenal. "We were under the impression that we were operating beyond the range of missiles," he said.
In response to the attack, naval and air forces destroyed radar stations belonging to the Lebanese army. IDF sources said that the Lebanese army radar took part in the attack against INS Spear.
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tphuang said:
I don't know if anyone's said this yet, but supposedly there were Israeli warplanes operating in the area, so there was a concern about the defensive systems accidentily engaging them.
While I don't know how high that risk would have been, it is quite probable no one was expecting that kind of a missile threat from Lebanon. It also would have explained why they wouldn't have been worried about Syrian planes.
If the missile was able to penetrate the ships' defences (and they were on), it would be worrying for future warfare as there would be added pressure on commanders in volatile situations to get the first shot in.
We've been bamboozeled!!!
So those were not the pictures of the ship attacked...Has anyone seen the real pictures of the damage? I cannot find them posted on line.
I guess in time some will surface..so to speak. From the stories I've read since I got online about 30 minutes ago the damage was extensive to the helo deck and aft parts of the ship. Those reports to reflect damage caused by a 165kg(363lb) warhead.
Now I have to wonder did Israeli aircraft attack that Egyptian freighter??
And why ,as the IDF say, the ship not in a footing to repel a missile attack? I'm sure Israeli intel had info on the possible location of those missiles. IMO there was a big glitch in this operation on the IDF side. Someone goofed..Heads will roll...
So those were not the pictures of the ship attacked...Has anyone seen the real pictures of the damage? I cannot find them posted on line.
I guess in time some will surface..so to speak. From the stories I've read since I got online about 30 minutes ago the damage was extensive to the helo deck and aft parts of the ship. Those reports to reflect damage caused by a 165kg(363lb) warhead.
Now I have to wonder did Israeli aircraft attack that Egyptian freighter??
And why ,as the IDF say, the ship not in a footing to repel a missile attack? I'm sure Israeli intel had info on the possible location of those missiles. IMO there was a big glitch in this operation on the IDF side. Someone goofed..Heads will roll...
At this point, I am convinced that it was a Iranian C-802 or C-701 guided missile that hit the IDF Saar 5.bd popeye said:
I am also just about convinced from the reports and statements, that the IDF felt it was not in danger of SSM attack and therefore did not have the defensive systems that would have protected them and the other vessels from such attack activated...which, if so, I find rediculous, inexcusable and derelect in the threat environment they faced with Hezbollah receiving such open support from Iran.
In addition, I believe either a second errant Iranian missile, or free fire from the CIWS ,hit the merchant ship (I heard it was Cambodian registered) with the Egyptian crew.
But that's just my opinion.
well, that's been talked about quite a bit, but the thing is why still leave SAAR 5 there in the first place if they are going to do nothing. You are putting high level assett at a possibly dangerous location just so you can show off? If they didn't think there was a missile threat, they should've withdrawn SAAR 5. But that's just my opinion.FuManChu said:
bd popeye said:
Israeli reports say that freighter was hit by second missile fired by Hezbollah… Apparently they fired two missiles, one hit Israeli corvette and other locked on freighter…
Also they say that missile defense system wasn’t in auto-mod because they were fears that they could shot down friendly ore civilian jets… Also they said that electronic warfare system was off because possible interference whit communications and UAV controls…
IMHO they were joust to self confidante(to stupid), ship was out of ATGM and unguided missile range and they didn’t expect any opposing fighters or helicopters… It pretty much looks that everybody f…. up, from intelligence agencies to naval command… I doubt that Captain did such mistake alone… He probably got strict ROE to fallow and only one to blame are idiots in naval command…
Ps. Joust thinking if missile was really C-802 is it possible that Israelis managed to hit missile at close range and ship was hit by debris? That could explain why was ship able to reach home port?
]I do not believe that is the damage to the ship. We have had other pics on this thread showing the same and its been pretty much shown that those are discharge ports that are stained.swimmerXC said:
The damage was extensive to the helo deck and hangar, apparently one or the other caved in after they were hit. See post 62.
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tphuang said:
It was enforcing a naval blockade of Lebanese ports, I believe. And it may well have been deployed for "shock-and-awe" reasons. Here's the Israeli Navy's pride-and-joy, etc.
Of course that backfired. But it was serving a purpose.