Outgoing Head of Military Intelligence General Amos Yadlin made his final appearance in front of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, saying that he has seen "three defense ministers, two chiefs of the general staff and two prime ministers, gone through two wars and dealt with two nuclear programs in enemy countries." The last comment, apparently making reference to a Syrian nuclear program. "I stood in front of a group of thousands of people who work 24 hours a day to gather information that the enemy does not volunteer, information that needs to be extracted from difficult places in order to be processed, to investigate and prepare analyses so that I may pass them on" to those who rely on them, Yadlin told the committee.'
Yadlin told the committee that Russia is supplying Syria with new anti-aircraft systems with the most mobile and advanced technology. He said that the systems could send the IDF and IAF's capabilities "back to their status in the 1970s Suez years."
"With the S-300, we are talking about relatively cheap missiles - but no less deadly," Yadlin warned in his final session with the committee. He also said that the Russians are upgrading older Syrian weapons systems. Describing the weapons trade benefiting Damascus, the MI chief said that the Syrians are conducting "very intense efforts to acquire weapons that are very very advanced - so advanced that everything that falls off of the production line in Russia ends up in Syria."
The outgoing chief said that Syria is playing two sides, on the one hand it is preserving its relationship with Iran and Hizbullah, and on the other hand, it is drawing a picture in which it can reach a peace deal with Israel.
Speaking of Hizbullah, Yadlin said that in light of reports that Hizbullah is trying to take over Lebanon, he said that the organization continues to grow stronger and that whatever advanced weapons systems Syria is able to acquire, Hizbullah will have if they ask for it."
Poster Comment:
He said that the systems could send the IDF and IAF's capabilities "back to their status in the 1970s Suez years."
And here I thought I could find no 'good news' to post today...
;)
