On missile-hit warship, Israel readies for threats
ABOARD INS HANIT, Israel: White specks appear on the horizon and a voice crackles over the radio with a warning: “The speed boat is acting independently.”
Two boats on suicide bombing missions had been spotted either side of the INS Hanit, one of the Israeli navy’s top warships.
“We recognise the target. This is an immediate enemy,” a voice says in Hebrew over the loudspeaker. ‘Ready for action.’
A siren rings out and young recruits rush to the back, hurrying to put on helmets and bulletproof vests before manning machineguns.
The Hanit’s engines go full throttle, dragging it rapidly from three to 27 knots ( 50 kilometres per hour). The speedboats rush forward but cannot catch up.
The ‘attack’ last week was in fact part of a series of war games with Greek and US forces to prepare for a range of threats, from submarines to more immediate risks from Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Hanit holds a prominent place in Israeli consciousness. It was struck by a Hezbollah missile off the Lebanese coast in the 2006 war with the Lebanese Shiite militant group, killing four soldiers.
It was the first direct strike on an Israeli warship in decades and Hezbollah celebrated it as among its biggest victories of the 34- day war.
More than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 120 Israelis, the majority soldiers, died during the conflict but many in Israel consider the war a failure as Hezbollah was not defeated.
The strike on the Hanit symbolised for many how overconfidence fed into that failure.
An investigation found that the missile hit because officials didn’t believe Hezbollah had such sophisticated technology and so didn’t turn on anti-missile systems. — AFP