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| TEST FIRE: S-300 missiles ready to launch. |
FACT: The Russian made S-300 Missile, which will soon be in Iran's hands, can strike inside Israel.
As a war of attrition develops on Israel's northern and southern borders, with, respectively, Al Qaeda-linked forces battling Hezbollah for territory and bragging rights with regard to striking Jewish State targets in the Golan Heights, and Gaza-based, Iran-backed Islamist terrorists shooting rockets into southern Israel, the beleaguered nation's defense experts have a new concern: potential positioning of Russian missiles in Crimea.
A Foreign Confidential analyst observes:
The flight distance from Yalta (southern Crimea) to Haifa (northern Israel) is 810 miles, with only the Black Sea and Turkey in between. The flight distance to Haifa from the Russian territory locations on the Black Sea of Novorossiysk (840 miles) and from Sochi (790 miles) are similar, but they pass much closer to Georgian airspace, no friend of Russia and a NATO candidate.
While the threat may seem theoretical and remote, Russia's annexation of Crimea is worrisome, given Moscow's alliances with Syria and Iran--which is clearly committed to destroying Israel. The Mediterranean has long been considered an American lake; the Black Sea, Soviet or Turkish. With Turkey no longer friendly to Israel, and the Black Sea in Russian hands, the only land based quick alert warning system to a sneak missile attack is Israel-friendly Ukraine, now on the immediate northern border of Crimea.
