Saudi Arabia targeting Iran and Israel with ballistic missiles

The Chinese-made missiles, which date back to the 1980s, are not
remotely-guided and therefore have to be positioned in the direction of
their target before firing.

Saudi Arabia 'targeting Iran and Israel with ballistic missiles'
Saudi Arabia is targeting both Israel and Iran with powerful ballistic
missiles, new satellite photography shown by military experts to The
Telegraph suggests.
By Colin Freeman The Daily Telegraph 8:00PM BST 10 Jul 2013
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/10172463/Saudi-Arabia-targeting-Iran-and-Israel-with-ballistic-missiles.html

Images analysed by experts at IHS Jane's Intelligence Review has revealed a
hitherto undisclosed surface-to-surface missile base deep in the Saudi
desert, with capabilities for hitting both countries.

Analysts who examined the photos spotted two launch pads with markings
pointing north-west towards Tel Aviv and north-east towards Tehran. They are
designed for Saudi Arabia's arsenal of lorry-launched DF 3 missiles, which
have a range of 1,500-2,500 miles and can carry a two-ton payload.

The base, believed to have been built within the last five years, gives an
insight into Saudi strategic thinking at a time of heightened tensions in
the Gulf.

While Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, it
has long maintained discreet back channel communications as part of attempts
to promote stability in the region.

The two countries also have a mutual enemy in Iran, though, which has long
seen Saudi Arabia as a rival power in the Gulf. Experts fear that if Iran
obtains a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would seek to follow suit.

The missile base, which is at al-Watah, around 125 miles south-west of the
Saudi capital, Riyadh, was discovered during a project by IHS Jane's to
update their assessment of Saudi Arabia's military capabilities.

It serves as both a training and launch facility, with the missiles stored
in an underground silo built into a rocky hillside. To the north of the
facility are two circle-shaped launch pads, both with compass-style markings
showing the precise direction that the launchers should fire in.

The Chinese-made missiles, which date back to the 1980s, are not
remotely-guided and therefore have to be positioned in the direction of
their target before firing.

"One appears to be aligned on a bearing of approximately 301 degrees and
suggesting a potential Israeli target, and the other is oriented along an
azimuth (bearing) of approximately 10 degrees, ostensibly situated to target
Iranian locations," said the IHS Jane's article, which is published on
Thursday.

While the lorry-launched missiles can theoretically be fired from any
location, the idea of having pre-planned directional markers is to ensure
that they can be deployed in accurate fashion as quickly as possible, said
Allison Puccioni, an image expert at IHS Jane's.

"There is a marked out spot for the launch truck to park in, which will
facilitate an expedited launch," she said.

Robert Munks, deputy editor of IHS Jane's Intelligence Review, said: "Our
assessment suggests that this base is either partly or fully operational,
with the launch pads pointing in the directions of Israel and Iran
respectively. We cannot be certain that the missiles are pointed
specifically at Tel Aviv and Tehran themselves, but if they were to be
launched, you would expect them to be targeting major cities.

"We do not want to make too many inferences about the Saudi strategy, but
clearly Saudi Arabia does not enjoy good relations with either Iran or
Israel."

Officials at the Saudi Embassy in London did not get back with a response
when contacted by The Telegraph. The Israeli Embassy in London said: "We
have no comment on this matter."

David Butter, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa
program at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think-tank, said
there was "little surprise" that the Saudis had the missiles in place.

"It would seem that they are looking towards some sort of deterrent
capability, which is an obvious thing for them to be doing, given that Iran
too is developing its own ballistic missiles," he said.

He added, though, that the Saudis would know that the site would come to the
attention of foreign intelligence agencies, and that the missile pad pointed
in the direction of Israel could be partly just for "for show".

"It would give the Iranians the impression that they were not being
exclusively targeted, and would also allow the Saudis to suggest to the rest
of the Arab world that they still consider Israel a threat."

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia considers itself one of the pre-eminent powers in the
Gulf region, but its Sunni Islam leadership has long been at loggerheads
with the Shia mullahs of Iran. The ongoing conflict in Syria, which Saudi
Arabia has backed the Sunni-dominated rebels and Iran has backed the
Shia-dominated regime of President Bashar al-Assad, has heightened fears of
a wider sectarian conflict.

A confidential diplomatic cable revealed in the "WikiLeaks" disclosures of
2010 said that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly exhorted the United
States to launch military strikes against Iran's nuclear programme and "cut
off the head of the snake"

Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=61497

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