France to supply Lebanon with 100 anti-tank missiles

[bemildred]

France will supply 100 anti-tank missiles to Lebanon, a government official said Friday, confirming a deal that raised concerns in earlier this year, AFP reported.

" Prime Minister Saad Hariri was informed on Wednesday of the French decision to supply the army with 100 ... HOT missiles that will be used by the military's Gazelle helicopters," the official told AFP.

The official confirmed that "the missiles will be delivered before the end of February and are being given with no conditions attached."

---

Israel and the US have attempted to prevent the arms deal saying that it could lead to increased Israeli casualties in any future confrontation.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=199914

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. The real question is under whose control will they really be especially since

they can be ground mounted as well.

[bemildred]

2. Says "no conditions attached".

I would think the Lebanese Army would prefer to keep them around for their own use. Of course in a war that could change.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. That presumes that the Army has a choice. Lebanon with the Hezbollah controlled south

is not the model of a stable and accountable national government

[Anakin Skywalker]

3. And the U.S. sells weapons to who?

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. zionists don't worry; if they're with the Lebanese Army, they'll never be used

That would involve the army leaving the barracks for anything except a sandwich; you're safe. Hopefully Hizbu'llah can obtain a few, that would be good deterrence for the next merkava that tries to cross the blue line.

[shaayecanaan]

6. I don't think Hezbollah would bother to use these missiles...

the French have previously supplied them to Lebanon before in 2007. The French are abandoning HOTs and are using American Hellfire missiles instead so they are basically getting rid of old stock.

These are very old HOT1 missiles, which have a single-stage warhead, not a tandem warhead (they have been superseded by the HOT2 and HOT3). Only the HOT3 has a tandem warhead of sorts which is necessary to breach the Merkava's reactive armour. The Russian Sagger antitank missiles used by Hezbollah in 2006 had a tandem warhead, and were used to great effect by HA during the war.

I dont think Hezbollah would bother with these missiles, they are clearly inferior to the ones that they already have and as there is only 100 of them, there are not nearly enough for HA to train their men in the use of the missile. HA have always put great store in having their men actually fire the missiles that they will use in warfare, this was one of the advantages they held over Israeli ground forces. Besides these weapons are really intended for use in helicopters.

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, but they could be aimed at other things than tanks ...

However, I agree that this is not a big deal really, more media noise than anything, or some plot too subtle for us out here in TV land to understand. I sort of wondered why it was news, why Sarkozy chose to make it news, still the old colonial area of influence thing maybe?

[shaayecanaan]

8. Probably...

This is more of a political statement than anything (much like the Lebanese Army I'm afraid). To be fair, the French have contributed to reconstruction post-2006 quite a bit.

[bemildred]

9. I got nothing against the French, though I can't say I think much of Sarkozy.

"Political statement" sounds about right.