Azerbaijan, Baku, 1 August/ Trend , corr V. Zhavoronkova/ The American missile shield radar will be installed in Israel not only against the threat of missile attack of Iran on Israel, but also because of the fears of Israel from the radical Lebanese grouping Hezbollah, experts say.
"Israel is afraid of the rockets of Hezbollah organization of Lebanon rather than that of Iran given the fact that Lebanon is located closer to Israel," the Arab expert Hosni Makhalli said.
The talks between the Secretary of State and defense minister of US and minister of defense of Israel in Washington ended with a statement that US will install missile shield in Israel.
Hezbollah is Shiite organization of Lebanon who supports the establishment of Islamic state in Lebanon as in case of Iran. The Shiite Islamic ideology of Imam Khomeini stands behind this ideology founded by the leader of Islamic revolution in Iran. The party enjoys the financial and military support of Iran and Syria.
There are viewpoints that the installation of missile shield in Israel aims at prevent attack by Iran, however, experts believe that it is possible to mark their rockets also with the help of radars in Iraq. But it is worth to fear the threat from Hezbollah of the neighboring Lebanon.
"The missiles of Hezbollah can raze the entire Israel to ground," Makhalli, an independent Arab expert said by telephone from Istanbul. According to expert, if Iran launches its missiles to Israel, it will pass over Iraq and Jordan and then it will fall into Israel.
According to the Iranian expert Hossein Lajevardi, Iran supplies the Islamic Resistance Movement and Hezbollah with the most dangerous missiles.
"The installation of missile defense in Israel is targeted at these organizations," said Lajevardi, chairman of France-based Association of Iranian Researchers by telephone. He noted that US has stated that it is able to prevent Iranian missiles before they reach Israel.
The Israeli expert Vladimir Mesamed believes that the anti-American statements of the Iranian leaders, recent testing of Shahab-3 missiles, display of military power and other moves provided for both internal and foreign audience, does not mean anything. According to expert, all these moves only aim at hiding elementary fears.
"The Iranian leaders admit that in spite of their strongly-worded statements, the country can not stand the foreign threat," Mesamed, the leading expert on the Iranian studies of Jewish University in Jerusalem said to Trend .
The US expert Victoria Samson said she was not sure whether Iran poses any threat at all.
"I would disagree with this assessment entirely - I don't believe that there is a missile threat to either the United States or Europe from Iran," Samson, expert of the Center for Defense Information said to Trend by e-mail.
Experts also believe that Iran is caught up in a very difficult situation at present. It has reasons to fear the missile attack by US or Israel; therefore, one should not expect aggression from Iran at the moment.
"If US and Israel decide to deal a blow to the atom facilities of Iran, it will not only destroy all atom energy infrastructure of the country, but also bases of military-industrial complex of Iran," the Israeli expert Mesamed said.
According to expert, it will take the military sphere of the country back to tens of years into the past. Mesamed forecasts deep economic problems of the population which can provoke it to remove the Islamic regime.
"Therefore, the leaders of Iran can understand that there is a need to accept proposals of West and to freeze the uranium enrichment for the time being in order to stand Bush's epoch," Mesamed said.
Experts also believe that the installation of missile shield in Israel should not cause anxiety in the Near East. According to experts, this move by US is not new. Some time ago US gave Israel new aircrafts so that it can strengthen its Air Forces against the attack by Iran.
The US expert Baker Spring said that the U.S. and Israel have been cooperating on missile defense for years and the Israelis already have radar to support their Arrow missile defense system.
"I do not consider this a provocative step. Missile defenses are purely defensive systems. They pose no threat to anyone, only to missiles that have already been launched," said Spring, expert on National Security Policy in Heritage Foundation.
According to the Israeli expert Mikhail Klayner, the missile shield radar promised to Israel is able to detect a target of tennis-ball size at the distance up to 4,700 km.
"It will enable Israeli Arrow interceptors to defeat ballistic missiles of Iran on their way to Israel the flying period of which make up 11 minutes," Klayner, representative of the right wing and leader of Israeli Herut party said to Trend .
According to expert, Israel is a strategic ally of US in the Near East and any strategic threat for Israel is accepted by the US Establishment as a threat to them.
"This radar system will enable Israel to obtain information of "early warning" on the launch of missiles from the satellites, and also to get technical and financial aid to establish defense system from the short-range missiles," Klayner said.
According to the Israeli politician the radar of this range is considered to be the most powerful among the current ones. "The key advantage of the radar is its ability not only to mark, but also differentiate military missiles from their imitation," he said. "The talks in Washington also focused on the financial support of the Americans in the development of the Israeli short range defense system Steel Cupola and David's Sling.
"Israel is a powerful state in the Near East region and only country with modern economy, with competitive capacity all over the world. Being the only owner of nuclear arsenal in the Near East, Israel is equipped with the best ordinary ammunition in the region. Today world is well aware that ant attempt of ayatollah regime to deal a blow to Israel will have catastrophic results first of all, for Tehran. The blow to Israel will destroy Iran as well," Klayner said.
According to the Israeli politician, Tehran will not take too radical measures to unleash new war. The aims of the Iranian ayatollahs are frightening and the nuclear blow means destruction.
"If there is a blow to Israel, there will be unprecedented blow over the world," he added
U. Sadigova, D. Khatinoglu (Baku) and R. Abdullayev (Jerusalem) also contributed to this article.
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