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Israel Monitoring Iran Ships, But Sees No Real Threat

(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - The Israel Navy is monitoring the two Iranian naval ships that are expected to transit the Suez Canal and enter the Mediterranean Sea, but no special preparations are being made amid intelligence assessments that the ships pose no threat to Israel. The ships are headed for the Syrian port of Latakia. An IDF source said that as long as the ships, as expected, stay outside Israel's territorial waters and make no aggressive moves, there will be no confrontation. Although the British-built Alvand is the Iranian navy's flagship and is armed with Chinese-made missiles, Israeli military officials were confident that in the event of a confrontation the Israel Navy could sink it without advance preparation. "If the navy were to make a positive identification, it could be sunk almost immediately," one senior official said. "We're not even dealing with it, because [the Iranians] are only creating a provocation. From the military and marine perspective, the moment the ships enter the Mediterranean, they're entering a trap."
2011-02-21 00:00:00
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