Syria is threatening a Ballistic War with Israel according to "Defense News Weekly", the Syrians prefer a missile barrage against Israel instead of a direct confrontation with the more technically superior Israel Defense Force (IDF) and that the new conflict will be protracted.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat recently reported that the Syria has obtained C-802 Missiles manufactured by China and sold to Iran, in addition Russia has indicated a willingness to sell Syria its "Iskander" missile which has a range of 280 KM which has GPS technology.
Iran and Syria last week entered into a military alliance and Iran has promised Syria up to $1 Billion Dollars worth of weapons.
The C-802 Missile provided to Syria from Iran, first unveiled in 1989 as an anti-ship missile has a low attack path of between 5-7 meters (about 17-20 feet) above sea level with a strong anti-jamming capability with a hit capability of about 98% and may be launched from a ship, submarine, aircraft and land based vehicles. When the missile is launched it will reach a speed of 0-0.9 Mach in seconds, after the booster burns out, it detaches from the missile body and the missile's turbo-jet begins working. Last year it was estimated that the Iranian Navy has approximately 60 C-802 missiles.
Defense News.com reported today that, "...Syria has Soviet made SS-21 Missiles and has built a large arsenal of Scud Ballistic-D missiles...and has purchased other missiles from Russia and Iran with a range of up to 200 KM (124.27 miles)..."
The SS-21 were supplied to Syria from the USSR in 1983 and is a single stage solid propellant guided ballistic missile that may carry a nuclear, chemical or conventional warhead.
On July 17 Syria President Assad said after being sworn into office for his second term, "The current year will be fateful and the remaining months of this year will determine the destiny and future of the region and maybe the world..."
Currently the U.S. Navy has 3 carrier strike groups stationed off the coast of Iran, more than 70 aircraft are aboard the USS Stennis, the United States Navy has recently likewise deployed the USS Enterprise to the area. Positioning the Naval forces to the area provides the Navy with the capability of doing 24 hour reconnaissance over the region.
