From Defense Update

 

Mystery Shrouds Air Strike in Sudan

 

A convoy of trucks carrying weapons destined for the Hamas in Gaza through Sudan was attacked and destroyed January 2009 but no country has assumed responsibility on this attack. Sudanese State Minister for Highways, Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem confirmed that a "major power bombed small trucks carrying arms, burning all of them. According to Sudan-Tribune the attack launched from a US base in Djibouti took place in a desert area northwest of Port Sudan city, near Mount al-Sha'anun and destroyed all 17 trucks in the convoy killing 39 people, among them Sudanese, Eritreans and Ethiopians.

 

The totality of the attack hints on the employment of a combination of precision attack by fighter bombers and 'mopping up' by special operations 'gunsip' type assets. For example, the AC-130 Spectre flown by US Special Operations Command uses direct fire 40mm and 105mm guns. However, the true identity of the attacker remains unknown. Unidentified US officials disputed the report about US involvement in the operation. A CBS report aired yesterday (March 25, 2009) claims the Israel Air Force fighter bombers have carried the attack however, official Israeli sources refused to confirm or deny the report.

 

According to CBS News national security correspondent David Martin the Israeli intelligence learned of plans to move weapons through Sudan, north toward Egypt and then via the Sinai into the Gaza Strip. During the final days of the Israeli offensive against Hamas Israel and the USA reached a security-intelligence memorandum on intensifying cooperation in a joint effort to block the smuggling of arms from Iran to Hamas via Sudan.

 

CBS also quotes unnamed Israeli security sources saying that an international network has been set in place in which smugglers move arms caches from Iran through the Persian Gulf to Yemen, on to Sudan and then to Egypt and Sinai where they are brought into the Gaza Strip through tunnels. Israeli intelligence has warned that the deliveries include anti-tank missiles, small arms, and military grade high explosives, as well as missiles.

From Aviation Week's Ares Blog

 

Mystery Shrouds Air Strike in Sudan

Posted by David Eshel at 3/27/2009 12:17 PM CDT

 

Last January, unidentified fighter jets reportedly hit a convoy of Iranian weapons bound for Hamas in Gaza as the trucks made their way across the Sudani desert toward the Egyptian border. For unknown reasons, the strike was revealed only yesterday, Thursday March 26. Intelligence analysts here believe that the arms convoy was headed across the Gulf of Suez to Sinai and, from there, through the tunnels that serve Hamas in Gaza.

 

No one has so far officially admitted carrying out this strike, but whoever did this one, was operating with pretty hard intelligence," said Mark Heller, principal research associate of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. "The strike itself would have required satellite guidance or cameras on the missiles," Mr. Heller said. "There are only two air forces that could have carried it out: the U.S. and Israeli." The United States has strongly denied carrying out any such attack. Although Israel did not officially respond to the CBS report, outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert's remark Thursday that "we act everywhere we can hit terror infrastructure, close and less close," can be seen as an unofficial confirmation of the report.

 

The alleged Israeli air force strike on a weapons convoy in Sudan was a signal to Hamas and Iran that Israel had exposed their smuggling route, and that they should cease using it, a security analyst said on Thursday. Maj. Gen. (res.) Prof. Yitzhak Ben-Israel, who headed the Defense Ministry's weapons development program, said "the main innovation in the attack on Sudan, according to reports, was the ability to hit a moving target at such a distance ... The fact that Israel has the technical ability to do such a thing proves even more what we are capable of in Iran."

 

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gil Regev said the fact that this was a moving target whose exact location was not known in advance affected the pilots' training, since they could not rehearse a precise mission outline. "But today, we have the platforms, and the pilots routinely train for such long distances, as well as for aerial refueling," he said.

 

It was not the first time that Israelis operated over Sudan. In the mid-1980s with Mossad agents to facilitate the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in Operation Moses.

 

Former IAF commander Eitan Ben-Eliyahu said Thursday the main difficulty in such an attack is precise intelligence. Getting there requires a flight of about two and a half hours, presumably on a southerly flight path along the Red Sea coast, below Saudi and Egyptian radar and with aerial refueling. As for Israeli precision intelligence, both Hamas and Hezbollah leaders were surprised after the Air Israeli Air Force hit their camouflaged pits, prepared in advance containing launchers armed with rockets, with near 100% precision.

 

Although the actual strike could be carried out against low risk opposition, the very decision was risky, from both political and operational considerations as with any attack 1,400 kilometers away from home bases. However the mission was apparently considered necessary due to highly critical intelligence, that Iran was about to inject a significant quantity of advanced long-range weapons into Gaza, possibly 70-kilometer-range Fajr rockets, which could reach Tel Aviv.

 

With this supply route now discovered, Iran will certainly find other ways to continue to send weapons to their clients in Gaza. While air strikes and intercepting sea lanes might perhaps delay some of those shipments, the best way to stop the weapons influx, is still to close the Rafah border line, through Israeli military reoccupation and once and for all destroy the subterranean smuggling city- the main Hamas weapons life-line.

That's real globalization ! Smugling of weapons from Iran to Gaza strip via Sudan , and interdiction from Djibouti

And yes, I known there're other US air units in Djibouti, but we should remember the "resident" fighter unit and his her history: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/au_coeur_de...asse_3_11_corse

Only 7 x Mirage 2000C and 3 x Mirage 2000D

 

And some other travel and scenario edition tips about Djibouti ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Lemonier

Mystery unveiled:

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/a...s/20090403.aspx

Red Sea Mysteries revealed

April 3, 2009: Israel has revealed that it used F-16s, F-15s and UAVs to carry out attacks on convoys of Iranian missiles, being trucked from Sudan into Egypt, for delivery to Hamas in Gaza. These attacks took place over two months ago, and were only recently revealed. The F-16s delivered the attacks, while the F-15s provided protection from potential attacks by Sudanese MiG-29s (unlikely, but possible.) UAVs were used reconnaissance.The most likely UAV for this is the Heron TP. Equipped with a powerful (1,200 horsepower) turbo prop engine, the 4.6 ton aircraft can operate at 45,000 feet. That is, above commercial air traffic, and all the air-traffic-control regulations that discourage, and often forbid, UAV use at the same altitude as commercial aircraft. The Heron TP has a one ton payload, enabling it to carry sensors that can give a detailed view of what's on the ground, even from that high up. The endurance of 36 hours makes the Heron TP a competitor for the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper (or Predator . It takes UAVs about ten hours to get from Israeli to the Egypt/Sudan border.The January attack destroyed 17 (out of 23) truckloads of weapons, and killed 39 men operating the vehicles. The F-16s attacked the convoy twice. Since then, the smugglers have resorted to individual trucks, and the use of small boats moving up the Red Sea coast.

Before the attacks, the U.S. advised Sudan that American intelligence had discovered the smuggling, and that it would be a good idea for Sudan to do something about it. Sudan did nothing, and the attacks took place. At first, the Sudanese believed it was an American attack.

I’m not a conspiracy freak but this really doesn’t add up.

 

I mean, think about it. First off, there’s a war on in Sudan and as a general rule weapons are shipped towards a war, and not away from or through it. Secondly there are more direct and more secure routes to Gaza. Iran through Northern Iraq, into Syria and from there by sea into Egypt or even directly into Gaza. I’m also pretty sure that some of those trucks carrying humanitarian aid are also carrying some extra cargo.

 

Finally, the reaction time for hitting a convoy like that has to be very very fast and the window for it being small. Any intel regarding it, would probably go stale very quickly.

 

I would hazard a guess that the attack, while it definitely took place, didn’t involve weapons going to Gaza at least in the conventional sense [rockets and small arms]. Whatever it was, it was most likely a threat to Israel to generate this kind of action. I suppose there is the lesser chance that Israel is doing this as a proxy but I doubt that. An unsupported airstrike by Israel would have to pass close enough to Egypt and Saudi Arabia to be detected. The question then is what those nations did once they picked up the Israeli’s.

 

Or if they did anything.

 

Unfortunately this report forces us to ask more questions than it answers.

 

Later

D