as the administration ponders Russian guarantees about the Iranian nuclear program, a program in the development of which Russian scientists and engineers play a major role, the lesson of Russian promises regarding their antitank missiles should be keopt in mind.

The anti-tank missiles killed at least 50 of the 118 soldiers who died in the war. When takes account of the wounded, then it is clear that most of the IDF’s casualties, dead and wounded, were the result of Hezbollah’s antitank weapons. Practically all of the casualties in the armored units, and most of the casualties in infantry unites, resulted from antitank weapons (more infantry soldiers were killed and wounded by antitank weapons than were killed or wounded in combat with Hezbollah fighters). The account:

In all, Hezbollah hit 46 Israeli tanks and 14 armored vehicles. Of these hits, the missiles penetrated 15 tanks and 5 armored vhicles. The IDF suffered 20 dead in these attacks, 15 of them in the tanks. Two members of a tank crew were killed when their bodies were exposed outside the tank.

In one battle, north of the Seluki river, Hezbollah, in antitank ambush, managed to hit 11 Israeli tanks. Its missiles penetetrated 3 tanks, killing 7 Israeli soldiers in two of them, and disabled two additional tanks.

In addition, 4 Israeli tanks drove over large pre-positioned explosive devices. Three of these tanks were not bottom-armored and their crews, 12 in all, were killed. The fourth tabk was bottom-armored, and of the six soldiers in the tank, only one was injured.

In all, Hezbollah used seven different types of rocektsin the war. Four of these rockets are the most advanced available, among them the “Kornet” and “Metis” models, whose range reaches a number of kilometers. The organization also has the upgraded Sagger missiles, TOW anti-tank missiles, and older-model rocket-propelled grenades. The Kornet and Metis missiles were sold to Syria under strict Russian guarantees to the United States that they would not find their way to Hezbollah.

An Israeli delegation traveled to Moscow earlier this week to deliver the

complaint, said Asaf Shariv, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

If the prvodies us with a lesson here, then Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran should be worried. Israel has been operationall surpirsed by advanced technologies in the hands of Arab armies in the past, but managed quickly to find an answer to these technologies. Note that we use the adjective “operational” to describe the IDF suprise. The Israeli military has exhibited a puzzling tendency of, on the hand, collecting a lot of intelligence about the weapon systems in the hands of Arab armies but, on the other hand, an inability to internalize that information so it permeates the doctrinal and operational levels of the IDF. Here are couple of examples:

A few months after the June 1967 Six Day War, the Egyptians used the Sticks Soviet anti-ship missile to sink the Israeli destoryer Eilat. The IDF and Rafael, the Israeli Defense Ministry R&D unit, studied the issue and found a solution. In the October 1973 Yom kipur war, the Egyptians fires dozens of the Stick missiles at Israeli ships without the Israeli Navy suffering any losses.

In the early stages of the 1973 war. The Israeli Air Force suffered heavy losses from Soviet-made SAMs used effectively by the Egyptian and Syrian militaries (the IAF had 380 fighter jest at the time, and it lost more than 100 of them). The IAF studies the problem and solved it: During the June 1982 Lebanon war, the IAF destroyed 19 Syrian anti-aircraft SAM batteries and shot down 86 Syrian MiGs — without losing a single plane.

The three technological problems which Israel must address and resol;ve before the next round with Hezbollah:

* Defense against short-range Katyusha rockets

* Better armor, and better defenses, against advanced antitank missiles such as the Kornet and the Metil

* Defense agsinst the C802 anti-ship missile: An Iranian crew launched a C802 missile and damaged the Israeli missile-carrier Hanit

-read more in this AP (with Amos Harel and Nir Hasson) report