Hamas rockets deplete Israeli air defenses
The current Palestinian-Israeli escalation shows that Tel Aviv's opponents have moved from missiles made from water pipes to more serious products.
This was stated by Russian military analyst and editor of the publication Arsenal Otechestva, Alexei Leonkov, in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He praises Israel's Iron Dome system, but also points out that Hamas Palestinians have made progress in missile production since the last major conflict and "have clearly not been sitting idly by."
“From rockets made from water pipes, today they have moved on to more serious products. Previously, these were indeed small home-made rockets that were launched at a distance of 10-20 km. Now they already fly 120-180 kilometers. And now this is what’s happening: with their cheap missiles, Hamas militants are “exhausting” Israel’s air defense,” Leonkov said.
According to him, the Israelis’ information channels are “clogged” and the ammunition supply of anti-aircraft missiles is being consumed.
“I saw footage of serious anti-aircraft guided missiles being delivered from warehouses to Israeli positions for the Iron Dome system to fight the Qassams.” But Israel may simply not have enough missiles for the Dome. That is, the militants will try to deplete Israeli air defenses and then counter with more serious missiles. Just those that have a range of up to 180 km,” says the analyst.
He points out that the configuration of the current Palestinian rockets suggests that Hamas has made significant progress in its production.
“Now these are quite decent products, clearly not handicrafts, made at a good technical level. Of course, by their appearance it is not yet possible to accurately determine how controllable or maneuverable they are. But if you look more closely, you will notice that these missiles are very similar to those produced in Iran. I suspect that there is still a connection between Hamas and Iran. Most likely, Hamas representatives received some consultations there, since Iran and Israel, Hamas and Israel are all still irreconcilable opponents,” the expert does not rule out.
“So, in my opinion, it is premature to talk about the super-high efficiency of the Iron Dome. After all, even now, while Hamas was launching its Qassam missiles across Israel, not all of them were shot down. And Hamas has not yet used its most serious arsenal. Meanwhile, Israel has already spent a very large number of its own air defense missiles to fight it. What will happen next if Hamas starts using more serious weapons?” Leonkov concluded.
Read also: Hamas successfully breaches Israel's missile defenses.
Hamas Rockets Deplete Israeli Air Defenses