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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Those Hizbullah rockets hitting Haifa |
| 2006-07-21 |
| From Strategy Page. This is a PowerPoint presentation. Click on the picture to begin As you scroll through the pictures toward the end of the presentation you will see the damage done by the ball bearings packed in the rocket's nose cone. These Iranian-provided Hizbullah rockets were not aimed at strategic targets. They were packed with ball bearings aimed at civilians with the objective of maximizing death and injury. Imagine what these ball bearings do when a man, woman or child is hit by one of them. Goes well with this pic stolen from Nepture Lex  |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #22 On the issue of destruction, it appears that IAF targeting in Beirut is taking out Shiite support areas, accurately. Check this out: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/15085582.htm So much for the "they are destroying Lebanon" rhetoric. |
| Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-21 21:37 |
| #21 JFM - They're not ball bearings per se in US ammo, but just metal balls the same as overshized buckshot. A 40MM AP grenade can do horriffic damage even when body armor is worn. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-07-21 21:17 |
| #20 Don't think of them as "ball bearings" because yes, bearings are made of expensive steel to exacting tolerances for mechanical operations. Think of it as "steel shot" which is basically nothing more than round drops of cheap steel of various sizes and not of uniform size and shape. The purpose of missiles with those warheads is to take out formations of troops in the open such as dismounted mechanized infantry or paratroopers. In the traditional use, these are "barrage" rockets. They are designed to be sent via multiple launchers in waves of dozens at a time to saturate an area with dozens of small explosions. Think of these rockets as the orinal cluster bomb in how they were initially designed to be used. The Russians developed them during World War II. We often called them such names as Stalin's organ because some of the launchers looked like a pipe organ. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2006-07-21 21:06 |
| #19 I wasn't talking about announcing reserve callups. I was talking about the reporting on troop formations South of the Lebanese border to include video. They could very easily censor that information. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2006-07-21 20:59 |
| #18 Mike: They can't call up their reserves and keep it quiet. No country that size (either physically or in terms of population) could. I'll say. My understanding is that reserve callups are typically via blanketing the media with notices so that no one can say he missed the callup notice and sit the campaign out. Note that everyone of combat age in Israel is a reservist, which is to say that they are all draftees. Draftees don't always want to be dragged away from their daily lives. I don't know the Israeli practice, but I suspect the only people who don't know of the call-up don't listen to the radio, watch TV, read newspapers or even have telephones. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-07-21 20:23 |
| #17 ed's got it right, except its not so much lethality as efficiency of production. You just have to ask yourself where are these made! |
| Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-07-21 20:10 |
| #16 Israeli National News: Hezbollah: Dirty Bomb Rockets Ready |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-07-21 18:02 |
| #15 I just noted an interesting comment from a Fox presenter in Israel musing aloud about why Israel would be so blatently telegraphing their intentions rather than keeping the callups and buildup quiet They can't call up their reserves and keep it quiet. No country that size (either physically or in terms of population) could. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-07-21 17:56 |
| #14 Ball bearings are too expensive to use in most antipersonnel weapons. More often, prenotched large gauge wire or preformed shrapnel sintered together is used. When the device explodes, each notched or sintered piece separates and becomes shrapnel. It sounds like the Syrians don't have the machinery to do this and are using ball bearings because they have to. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-21 17:31 |
| #13 Ball bearings razor, sharp shrapnel, not much to choose from. Like the man sez, it's the targeting. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-21 17:28 |
| #12 While the damage agsint vehicles lolo impressive the second vehicle is not touched at all and I observe no vehicle has been set afire as a HE payload would have done. So it confirms my opinion ball bearins is mainly for personel. When you are after vehicls you use HE. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-07-21 17:16 |
| #11 That's not true Anti-personnel and anti-material bombs, rockets grenades are always with ball beraings or and such. I smell BS here. Ball bearings have no use at all against buildings or armor. I even doubt they are so useful even agsibnt soft skinned vahicles. Could anyone in teh military give more informed opinion. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-07-21 17:09 |
| #10 Yeah, well, my idea was to paint the group what it is, I was purposely not going to the judgement of their religion area, that is where you risk making even more enemies. The point being that if we portray what they do as hirabah and not jihad, we provide an opportunity for other Muslims to hate them too and in terms they themselves understand. Oh, and I just noted an interesting comment from a Fox presenter in Israel musing aloud about why Israel would be so blatently telegraphing their intentions rather than keeping the callups and buildup quiet. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2006-07-21 16:12 |
| #9 Crosspatch, we must refer to them as Hizb'Allah and put the emphasis on Allah. It is their religion (if you can call it that) that motivates them. Allah is no God and Islam is no religion. |
| Posted by: PartJew 2006-07-21 16:03 |
| #8 Nice pic... and my new desktop background. |
| Posted by: Evil Elvis 2006-07-21 15:47 |
| #7 We should refer to them not as Hezbollah (or Hizb'Allah) but as Hizb'Hirabah or Party of Terrorism. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2006-07-21 15:15 |
| #6 Excellent analysis Patch. I can certainly see that happ'n. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-07-21 15:15 |
| #5 Israel wants the Lebanese army on the border. The Lebanese army has refused to move into the area but have said they would respond to an Israeli incursion. This might just be a way to get the Lebanese army into the region in a way that is politically acceptable within the Lebanese domestic climate. And the threat is too credible to ignore. Not to move the Lebanese army into the area might actually precipitate an Israeli invasion to move Hezbollah back. Pass the popcorn please. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2006-07-21 15:13 |
| #4 That's not true Anti-personnel and anti-material bombs, rockets grenades are always with ball beraings or and such. It's not the rockets that make it abominable but to where Hizballah points them. |
| Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772 2006-07-21 14:29 |
| #3 this is quite funny and since I do not know how to post I hope somebody does it: Now this is a classic. Hardline cleric Omar Bakri who is barred from Britain for inciting terrorism tried to get onboard of a British warship to flee Beirut but was turned back. Bakri who preached terror in Londistan London for so many years decided to let go of jihad against the "Israeli infidels" and flee the battlefield to return to his previous safe haven. Bakri, who had lived in Britain for 20 years, said he had shown his British driving licence and his cancelled British passport. "I know myself I am not welcome in the UK Â… but I have the right like everyone else to safety," he said. "It is better to try and fail." Britain barred him from returning to the country as part of a government crackdown on Islamic preachers who it says inspires suicide bombers like those who attacked London's transport system last year, killing 52 people. See, we only preach jihad and encourage others to carry it out, we never actually do it ourselves!! The funny thing, Bakri stated before that he doesn't want to return to the UK In an interview with Reuters in Beirut last August, the bearded cleric said he had no intention of returning to Britain because of the way Muslims there were being treated. Ahh, when things gets tough we cry mama. Update: This is how the British tabloid The Sun reported the story: |
| Posted by: Omomoque Jomoter1383 2006-07-21 14:17 |
| #2 What an approprate pic. Notice how the 'brave lion of islam' is hiding behind the skirt of the mother and child while the other has shielding the woman and child. As for the ballbearing pic. I'm sure we'll see it on the NYT's front page any |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-07-21 13:29 |
| #1 The number of rockets being launched at Israel has started to fall. Read this analysis from Strategy Page: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/israel/articles/20060721.aspx |
| Posted by: Apostate 2006-07-21 13:25 |