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Israel needs 'bunker-busters'
19/07/2006 20:46 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israel's efforts to crush
Hezbollah are being hindered by its lack of air force bombs
capable of penetrating the Lebanese group's command
bunkers, a leading Israeli military expert said on Wednesday.
Israel has been shelling Lebanon's infrastructure since
Hezbollah killed eight of its soldiers and abducted another two
last week. Close to 300 people, the vast majority of them
civilians, have died while Hezbollah has kept fighting on.
Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly,
said that while the Israeli air force was stemming some of the
cross-border rocket fire by Hezbollah, it was failing in its bid
to track and kill commanders who had gone to ground.
"Many of the Hezbollah leaders are in underground bunkers,
and Israel does not have the ordnance to reach them," Ben-David
told Reuters. "It could well be holding up the offensive." 'Bunker-buster'
Hezbollah is known to have buried some of its arms caches,
but there is no confirmation that its commanders are in bunkers.
Israel asked the United States in 2004 to sell it airborne
"bunker-buster" bombs in what security sources said was part of
preparations for a possible strike on arch-foe Iran's fortified
nuclear facilities.
Pentagon approval for the sale of 100 of the GBU-28 bombs
came through last year. But Israel's defence ministry, amid
steep budget cuts, said it decided against making the purchase.
Ben-David said an Israeli arms firm was designing its own,
lighter version of the GBU-28, which weighs 2 ,272kg and can penetrate about 7m of concrete. But the
Israeli model has not yet passed the prototype stage, he said.
"There are smaller bombs in use against fortified targets,
but these have only limited effectiveness for bunkers," he said. Ordnance 'satisfactory' An Israeli military spokesperson declined to give details on
air force ordnance being used, but said it was satisfactory.
"The mission is going as planned," the spokesperson said.
An Israeli air strike in south Beirut on Friday flattened a
residential building which Israeli media reports said concealed
the command post of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
After several hours incommunicado, Nasrallah issued a video
statement defying Israel. Lebanese security sources said he had
vacated the Beirut building two days earlier.
A senior Israeli military intelligence official told Reuters
on Monday that Nasrallah had not been targeted, despite vows by
Israel to strike at the entire "terrorist network" in Lebanon.
- Reuters
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