Russian Yakhont Missiles to Iran Smuggled Into Lebanon
One has to give the Iranian government due credit. They make a deal with the West regarding the nuclear enrichment in their pursuit of a nuclear weapon by agreeing to terms that allows them to get close to their goal, and in return, America and Europe released seven billion dollars held from the sanctions to help Iran's damaged economy. In effect, the nuclear deal allows them to enrich uranium and get paid for it. Who is fooling whom?
Meanwhile, the government and the US, seem to be on the same side in Iraq, fighting the al-Qaeda men now occupying Fallujah and Ramadi. But, like after WW2, once al-Qaeda is defeated, the adversarial relationship will resume. No question.
Meanwhile, again, Iran is winning with Syria and has even been invited to the "peace talks" with the rebel forces. Russia and Iran are much more allies than the US and Iran, for sure. Russia sells them sophisticated weapons and trains them. Why? The world powers are elevating Iran's status making them like a regional power. Iraq tends to acquiesce to many of Iran's requests because they really cannot do much about it-they, themselves are too weak. Iran in Syria has saved Syria by providing forces and money.
Meanwhile,again, Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, helped Syria win also at the request of Iran by sending troops to fight the rebels-not the Israelis. Now that things are calming down and Iran seems to be in the driver's seat, Iran's REAL focus returns to destroying Israel. Since they don't have the nuclear bomb yet, they are sending more missiles to Hezbollah there.
Adding to the fine missile collection (some 10,000 of them) there, Iran is now smuggling the shore to ship Russian missile, Yakhont. The Yakhont anti-ship missile flies in a low, straight line to its target, avoiding radar detection, providing no trajectory, and making interception extremely difficult to achieve. It can be used on land as long as the terrain is relatively flat, enabling the user to take advantage of the same tactical factors that make the missile effective against ships. Iran is sending the missile in small sections through Syria, making it very hard for Israeli aircraft to target and destroy as they have done in the past.
The Israeli navy defends its oil and gas fields offshore and would make easy targets, for the Iron Dome, which has a 80% kill rate for missiles from Lebanon, it is helpless against low flying missiles like the Yakhont, flying at supersonic speeds.
