Israel Resource Review |
27th January, 2007 |
Contents:
RUSSIA OPERATES LISTENING POST IN GOLAN
Middle East News Line
Russia has established and operated an advanced intelligence listening post along the Israeli-Syrian frontier.
Israeli security sources said Russia has installed advanced equipment
for signals intelligence collection in Syria's Golan Heights. The sources
said the intelligence-gathering station was intercepting Israeli telephone
and cellular traffic as well as e-mail and faxes.
"This is one of the most advanced facilities in the world and clearly
shows that Russia has taken sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict," an Israeli
source said.
The sources said the listening station began full operations in wake of
the Israeli-Hizbullah war in Lebanon in mid-2006. They said Russian Army
operators were manning the station and collecting and analyzing intelligence
from Israel.
"We have to face the fact that Russia has guaranteed the safety and
stability of Syria while it engages in terrorism," an Israeli official said.
"We have raised this with the Russians and they keep saying that everything
they are doing in Syria is defensive."
The sources said the listening station sought to monitor military
movement and communications in northern Israel. They said the facility was
part of Moscow's pledge to bolster Syria's military capabilities in exchange
for Russian Navy access to the Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartous.
"The station includes Russian intelligence officers and the data
collected goes to Syria and Russia," Israel's Channel 2 television reported
on Thursday. "The information has also been relayed to Hizbullah."
Over the last five years, Russia has sold Syria AT-14 Kornet anti-tank
guided missiles, with some of the systems transferred to Hizbullah. The
sources said Syria has also received an undetermined number of SA-18
shoulder-launched anti-aircraft systems.
The sources said Iran has also established intelligence-gathering posts
in Syria. They assessed that Iran and Russia were cooperating in the effort
to bolster the anti-aircraft, anti-tank and intelligence capabilities of the
Syrian military.
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