Top officer: Hezbollah, Syrian air defenses will keep IAF very busy

In the event of a future conflict with neighboring hostile countries, Israel will need to allot several hours to neutralizing its enemies’ air defense systems before taking any other action, Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said Tuesday at a defense forum.

Israel’s enemies have been investing heavily in air defense, Naveh said, using Syria to illustrate his argument.

„Syria has invested $3 billion toward its build up of such systems,” Naveh said, adding that the amount of the investment suggests that Damascus considers air defense as being of greater importance than other military projects.

Naveh also warned that Hezbollah has amassed 60,000 rockets and missiles, „ten times the size of its stockpile in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.”

„Hezbollah seeks to turn the quantity into quality; if they can wreak havoc on the Israeli homefront, they will be within striking distance of a ‘victory photo’ that would influence decision-making among [Israeli] political echelons,” he said.

As for Syria, Naveh stressed that despite the internal uprising over the past year, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has managed to keep its missiles and chemical agents secure „in a most extraordinary way.” Naveh added that Syria has hundreds of missiles, some of which are very precise munitions.

Naveh spoke at an Israel Defense Forces–sponsored Air and Land Joint Operations conference which opened Monday in Zichron Yaakov, near Haifa.

Top military officials from Israel and abroad are expected to speak at the defense forum, which runs until Thursday. According to the conference’s program, sessions will cover „fire support from both the ground and the air in a complex combat environment” and will apply past lessons in learning how to employ various forces and weapon systems simultaneously.

The conference is limited to military capabilities and operational doctrines, so no specific scenario or military operation will be discussed.