Exclusive:
Amid new Iranian threat, Israel connects to America's Ballistic Missile Early Warning SystemApril 15, 2008, 12:36 PM (GMT+02:00)
The 12th Space Warning Squadron, Greenland
Israel requested the hook-up to the BMEWS for early warning to defend itself against Iranian
missile attack. Tuesday, April 15, Iran's deputy C-in-C Mohammad Reza Ashtiani threatened
to eliminate Israel from "the scene of the universe" if it launches a military attack on the Islamic
state.
DEBKAfile's military sources report the system operates from three global centers the US
Thule Air Base in Greenland, where the 12th Space Warning Squadron is located; the Clear
Air Force Station in Alaska and the British RAF long-range radar station at Fylingdales, Yorkshire,
in England.
This is the third time Israel has been connected to the BMEWS. The first was in 1991 before the
first Gulf War and the second in 2003 before the US invasion of Iraq. Then, Israel feared Iraqi
missile attack, which indeed materialized in 1991. Now,
US military sources interpret the
request as signifying Israel?s sense of the need to prepare for an Iranian missile attack in the
not-too-distant future.
Such an attack could develop from a US or Israeli strike against Iran, or any war situation
involving Israel, Syria or Hizballah. Tehran might also stage a pre-emptive strike if early intelligence
was received of an impending US or Israeli attack on Iran, Syria or Hizballah.
These sources stressed that Iran could even decide to lash out against Israel after the event in
reprisal for an American assault, not necessarily on its nuclear sites but on Revolutionary Guards
bases involved in directing, arming and training militias for attacks on US troops in Iraq. In such
a contingency, Tehran could decide to hit back at US bases and strategic sites in the Persian Gulf
and Middle East at large, including Israel.
The hook-up to the US early warning system will give Israel a better chance to prepare its Arrow
and Patriot missile defense systems and the US to prepare its own Israel-based Patriot batteries
- in good time to ward off an Iranian missile attack. The BMEWS would start beaming data on an
incoming Iranian missile at the launching stage and before it is airborne.
American military sources have no doubt that if an Iranian missile barrage targets Tel Aviv, Israel
will counter with a missile attack on Tehran or Damascus.
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