Why Hizbullah’s New Missiles Are a Problem for Israel – J. Dana Stuster (Foreign Policy)

(Daily Alert)

    Russia delivered 72 Yakhont missiles to Syria in December 2011, along with 18 mobile launch vehicles.

    Moscow then followed up in May 2013 with even more advanced, more accurate, radar-equipped Yakhont missiles. They have a range of about 180 miles, fly close to the sea at Mach 2 to evade radar, and are usually armed with an armor-piercing or high-explosive warhead.

    The Yakhont missiles, though more suited to firing on vessels at sea, would be a marked upgrade in the range and accuracy of Hizbullah’s arsenal.

    Placed near the Israeli northern border with Lebanon, the missiles’ range would extend nearly all the way across the country, past Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula.
    But it’s the radar guidance that has IDF planners worried.

See also Ex-Navy Chief: Israel Has Defenses Against Russian Yakhont Anti-Ship Missile – Yaakov Lappin (Jerusalem Post)

    Israel has defenses in place against the supersonic Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missile, ex-navy chief Vice-Admiral (res.) Eliezer Marom told theJerusalem Post on Sunday.

    Should Hizbullah come to possess an operational arsenal of Yakhont missiles, it would be able to target Israeli gas drilling rigs in the Mediterranean, civilian shipping, and ports. 

(To read either article in full, click on the title….Ed.)