Syria's Missiles....

Gee, nobody ever protests this regime!

At an undisclosed site, the Syrians have erected a factory that produces M-600 missiles, capable of hitting almost any target in Israel. According to the French newsletter Intelligence Online, the factory is a joint Iranian-Syrian venture. Iran funded construction of the site, and supplied the assembly line, the technology and the war doctrine. In return, Syria is committed to provide half of the factory's production - that is, half the missiles - to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah youth holding Katyushas near Nasrallah portrait

A few weeks ago, reports in worldwide media outlets indicated that Syria was smuggling missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon, in clear violation of the UN Security Council resolution that brought about the end of the Second Lebanon War. The reports, apparently leaked by a source inside Israel intelligence, were later confirmed by the Israeli government. In truth, the term "smuggling" is incorrect. Syria transfers the missiles according to its factory agreement with Iran, but tries to hide the weapons supply from Israeli intelligence and the Israel Air Force, which have been closely following these transfers.

An M-600 has a diameter of 600 millimeters, and a range of 250 to 300 kilometers; it is powered by solid fuel and can carry war heads weighing up to 500 kilograms. The missile is based on technology older than the Iranian Fateh 110, itself an improved version of the Soviet-Chinese-North Korean Katyusha rocket.

Even without the M-600, Syria has many tens of thousands of missiles and rockets, the basis for the Scuds and Katyushas that Hezbollah launched at Israel in the Second Lebanon War. During that war, Israel bombed Lebanon with 7,000 tons of explosives, while the explosives from the approximately 4,000 rockets and missiles Hezbollah fired on Israel added up to "only" 28 tons.