Iranian troops face Israel from Syria. US video shows upgraded bunker buster
Iranian troops face Israel from Syria. US video shows upgraded bunker buster.
US officials recently gave Israel a video demonstration of the new features which enable its biggest bunker buster bomb (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) to destroy Iran’s underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordo near Qom, in a bid to dissuade Israel from a unilateral attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
This is reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The video displayed the improved bomb, which Israel does not have, as hitting the ground near its target and setting off a massive underground explosion.
debkafile’s military sources report that this videotaped demonstration was in line with the Obama administration’s latest campaign to convince Israel that the US is getting ready to strike Iran itself.
In actual fact, the improved American MOP is not news – any more than the Israeli Air Force’s possession of bombs capable of penetrating the Fordo underground plant. This capability has given Israeli officials the confidence to assert that Israel can destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities on its own.
What Washington has in common with Jerusalem is that while both make no secret of their capabilities – and Israeli leaders are also free with threatening rhetoric – neither is actually exercising them.
The only parties on the move are Iran and Hizballah.
At the end of the week, debkafile’s military sources report that both established a military presence in Syria and Lebanon, just across Israel’s two northern borders. An Iranian airlift placed Iranian boots on the ground in Syria for the first time in more than two years of its civil war. It was also the first time Israel had ever seen uniformed Iranian soldiers present at close quarters on the soil of a close neighbor.
The arrivals are members of the violent Basij volunteer militia which is trained in urban combat tactics for suppressing anti-regime unrest in Iranian cities. They are the first Iranian troops to confront Syrian rebels in combat. Roughly 6,000-8,000 militiamen have arrived so far – a figure comparable to the size of the Hizhballah elite units fighting for Bashar Assad in Syria.
The Basij militiamen were stationed in Damascus and sent to guard Syrian Shiite border villages situated opposite Hizballah-controlled South Lebanon. This deployment has placed Iranian troops opposite the intersection of the Israeli, Syrian and Lebanese borders.
Iran’s expanding military intervention in Syria accounts partly for this week’s surprise call-up of thousands of Israeli reservists for duty on the country’s northern borders. Although they were sent home after 24 hours to disguise their mission and calm rising tensions, they were in fact ordered to report back Sunday, May 5. These reservists will then pick up the gear and weapons needed for real combat, and take up positions along Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon.
Sirens blared over parts of the Golan Friday, May 3, their sensors touched off by the preparations for these military movements. The official pretext offered of a “technical glitch” was about as convincing as the Israeli military spokesman’s attempt to deny knowing who sent a drone from Beirut towards Israel on April 25.
The sirens on the Golan were apparently not loud enough to be heard in Washington and Jerusalem.
WarSclerotic 
May 3, 2013 at 6:47 PM
The 30,000 pound bunker buster is old news – it was available back when Bush was president in time for a military option against Iran.
The US won’t be giving Israel this bomb under the current regime and they won’t be using it either.
It’s high time Israel take matters into their own hands……
May 3, 2013 at 7:11 PM
One of the open questions is whether conventional weapons (including even a 30,000 pound bomb) would still be sufficient at this late date.
I’ve read several articles on debka that Iran’s facilities are in “immunity zones” as of November and only tactical nukes can penetrate them now.
May 3, 2013 at 8:27 PM
I repeat myself. It is the Iranian wet dream to have its forces directly facing Israel. Things are going to get nasty real fast now.
May 3, 2013 at 10:14 PM
Each of these underground facilities have two things in common, a way in and a way out. A 30K BB dropped in the right place will turn these facilities into a permanent tomb. Any internal damage that results in the destruction of life support systems or the release of radioactive material will only make things more deadly.
May 3, 2013 at 10:21 PM
The 30K BB:
And for the power of a conventional bomb technology see this video on the MOAB:
This one is only 18K pounds.
May 3, 2013 at 10:49 PM
So what? They can show all the wonder weapons they want but if they are not prepared to use them they canncot convince anybody.
Based on obavez record, I don’t believe that the Israelis are impressed. I don’t believe that the US can convince them. Obavez has shown how serious he takes his red lines.
What was the “game changer” in Syria again. I don’t believe him.
May 3, 2013 at 11:17 PM
Well….the Israelis have the capability to use nukes if necessary. I’m not defending Obama, but Americans are a bit war-weary. Obama knows this and he only acts in accordance with the polls. Not to downplay the human agony aspect of war, but the USA cannot fire one shot without costing the American taxpayer millions. People know this all too well here.
Look guys, the USA has been a country for 237 years. During this time, we have been at war for 211 of these years. Do we want another war?….no. Do we need another war?…probably not. Will we support Israel if they decide to go to war?…hell yes!
Honestly, I’ve got this one nagging problem. I see many young brave Americans returning from Iraq and Afganistan either in a coffin or a wheelchair. Those that can still speak almost always declare it was worth it to protect freedom and liberty. I always ask myself where? Here or in Iraq and Afganistan. Do Iraqis and Afgans really give a shit about our sacrifice. Probably not. Will they prosper with democracy. No, they will eventually use it to vote in sharia law and a mullocracy. So what did our guys and gals sacrifice for?? Someone please tell me because I’m either blind or dumb as hell.
Meanwhile, everyone seems to want the USA to go to war yet again.
Whew….sorry for the rant.
May 3, 2013 at 11:33 PM
The US does not need to go to war. Israel is willing to take care of the Iranian problem because for Israel it is a matter of survival.
But the problem lays here: Obavez does not want Israel to attack Iran (for whatever reasons) and so he wants them to wait and he tries to convince them that if all else fails th US will deal with Iran.
The problem is, he has ZERO credibility. The way he dealt with North Korea and Syria is very instructive.
May 3, 2013 at 11:22 PM
For those like me who just love watching big huge explosions, follow this link.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1960s/ev-1965/op-sa-ht.htm
You will see images of the biggest intentional non-nuclear explosion contucted in Operation “Sailor Hat” Explosive Tests, February-June 1965 by the US-Navy.
500 tons of TNT blowing up. Awesome.
Of course there were bigger non-nuclear explosions but they were unintented like the accident that happened in Oppau, Germany in 1921 when 4,500 tons of Ammonium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulfate exploded (the resulting blast was equivalent to 1 to 2 Kilotons of TNT).
Both explosions are on the scale of tactical nukes.
May 4, 2013 at 1:50 AM
FoxNews just reported that Israeli jets bombed Syrian locations.
May 4, 2013 at 2:47 AM
Little by little things are heating up.
Sooner or later Israel is going to have to hit all the chemical sites in Syria…..
May 4, 2013 at 3:28 AM
Read your Bible–Isaiah 17. Things are happening just a prophesied. If you do not understanding visit gracethrufaith.com for a full interpretation of this prophecy and more to come. Israeli’s are God’s chosen people, against all odds they will defeat all who come against them; and so it is written…
The messiah is on his way.