Israeli warship hit, burning off coast of Lebanon

[rodeodance]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/14/mideast/index.html

Hezbollah ready for 'war on every level'
Israeli warship hit, burning off coast of Lebanon

Friday, July 14, 2006; Posted: 10:01 p.m. EDT (02:01 GMT)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Hezbollah is prepared for "open war" against Israel and its fighters will take aim at the warships that "attacked our civilians," the militant group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech broadcast on Hezbollah television.

Minutes later, a warship off the Lebanese coast was struck by what the Israel Defense Forces said was an unmanned aircraft packed with explosives, damaging the ship's steering capability. Hezbollah-run television station Al Manar reported that the boat was struck by two missiles.

The IDF reported there were no casualties. Hours later, the IDF said the ship was still on fire and was being towed back to Israel.

"You wanted an open war, you will have an open war," Nasrallah said. "You don't know who you are fighting today. You are fighting the children of Mohammed, ali Hassan and Hussein. You chose the war to fight against people who believe in their pride." (Watch Nasrallah say Hezbollah is ready for war -- 2:14)

[stepnw1f]

1. Fuckn' Stupid

Goddamn Bush is a fucking devil, and the Israelis know what they have done. Don't we all?

[Poll_Blind]

2. Indeed. Speak out! Strike up a conversation at a bus stop,

a book store, a family gathering. We all have to do our part to extinguish the ignorance.

PB

[The Magistrate]

3. It Will Be Interesting, Sir, To Learn Further Details

Modern warships are awfully fragile, particularly the smaller ones.

There was probably a great deal of surprise value to this attack, which may have assisted its achieving some success. It may be hard to repeat.

[AlamoDemoc]

4. No way!

common! the media can't be serious about this...of course Israeli war ships can't be attacked by Hizbullah, right?

"The IDF reported there were no casualties. Hours later, the IDF said the ship was still on fire and was being towed back to Israel."

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Stinky's wild assed guess ......

Hezbollah got hold of a tired, used up old war plane, rigged it as a drone using off the shelf parts, and made it, essentially, a guided missle.

[htuttle]

6. Seems hard to believe it could have been a full-sized aircraft

...unless Israel turned all their AWACS and Phalcons off.

Unless it was a REALLY old biplane made of wood and doped canvas. I guess.

[Poll_Blind]

7. Yeah, Israel has AEGIS technology on its ships and even without AWACS...

...their radar would mark and shoot it down. I will say that I'm not sure if they had AEGIS on this ship, but I wouldn't be surprised. I think they probably got a couple of shaped charges or something similar on this bird, which I doubt had a wingspan of 10 feet, flew it less than 10 feet off the deck and then swooped up before detonation. I just can't imagine anything bigger or higher-flying making it past the defenses.

PB