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Russian Iskander SS-26: This SCUD replacement has a range that can cover all of Israel with its 300 km range and 480 kg warhead.
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| By israelinsider staff and partners October 15, 2005 |
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| Are the Russian in the PA to beef up and train recruits (shown in this AP file photo), or is there a more strategic agenda? |
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The Palestinian news network quotes senior security sources in the Palestinian Authority as saying on Saturday that Russian "police officers" had recently arrived in the Palestinian territories to train security forces.
The Palestinian Ministry of Interior said in a statement that the Russian officers arrived in Gaza and "the West Bank" (Judea and Samaria) a few days ago to train Palestinian police and security forces. Debkafile reports that 15 "intelligence officers" entered on Yom Kippur, taking advantage of the Israeli news blackout on that day.
Debka said it was "the first Russian military presence in a Palestinian war zone against Israel" and a "flagrant Egyptian violation of its commitments under the new military protocols it signed with Israel to bar the Philadelphi border crossing to foreign military personnel." Israeli officials were "floored" by the violation, Debka reported, quoting Israeli military sources.
Egypt clearly engineered the entry. "The Russian officers were flown in directly from Moscow to Cairo and then overland to the Egyptian side of Rafah where they were welcomed by Egyptian military intelligence officers. No notice was received in Jerusalem," Debka reported.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry statement did not say how many Russian officers arrived in the territories and how long they would stay. Two months ago, PNN reported, Russia promised to help the Palestinian security apparatuses in training and armed support.
Although, according to China's Xinhua news agency, Russia announced it would donate 55 armored vehicles to the Palestinian police, along with light weapons and electronic X-Ray security machines, Israel has so far opposed the move. However, the Israelis have opposed virtually all the activities of the PA since the pullout from Gaza, after effectively losing control over the Egyptian-Gaza border.
More serious is the far heavier armaments reported to be on the way. According to Debkafile, Putin has promised the Palestinian Authority in Gaza 1,000 armored personnel carriers and is going through with the sale of the state of the art Iskander SS-26 surface missiles. The state of the art SS-26 model which the Russians export is believed to have a range of 300 km, placing all of Israel in its range of its 480 kg warhead.
The Russian defense minister said during a visiting to France this week that officials from the Russian ministries of defense and foreign affairs are in the Palestinian territories to train the Palestinians, the PNN report said.
Palestinian interior minister Nasser Yousef has repeatedly requested from Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz to allow weapons, cars and equipment into Gaza, but Mofaz told Yousef: "You can buy weapons on the black market."
Israel has reportedly changed its position since then, promising the Palestinians that it would "look into" the proposal after the United States exerted pressure on it to allow the Palestinians military support to confront militants, PNN said.
Israel Television Channel One correspondent Oded Granot noted Saturday evening that Egypt warned Israel that the Palestinians had smuggled longer-range Qassam rockets during the Egyptian-Palestinian security hiatus on the border. Granot said that this sharing of information was indicative of Egyptian cooperation, IMRA reported.
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