Israel received the first of its new missile boats on Wednesday,
with a top naval officer telling AFP the fleet upgrade “dramatically”
improves the country’s ability to counter regional rivals, including Iran.

The procurement of four naval
vessels and three submarines from German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp has been
the subject of long-running corruption probes involving top allies of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But graft allegations aside,
the ships themselves form a key part of a major naval upgrade in the Jewish
state, Israel’s head of naval operations, Rear Admiral Eyal Harel, said in an
interview last week.

Harel said the new fleet
would bolster the navy’s capacity to defend increasingly lucrative offshore
natural gas assets from rivals like Lebanon’s Shiite group Hezbollah, which
receives backing from Iran.

According to Harel, Israel’s
offshore rigs “are the main objective on the Hezbollah target list for the
next war.”

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The vessels — Saar 6-class corvettes
— are equipped with “the (most) sophisticated radar on board any vessel
in the world,” he said.

The first Saar 6, the INS
Magen, arrived at Haifa’s port on Wednesday.

According to a September
article by the Center for International Maritime Security, a Washington-based
think-tank, the ships and new submarines will enhance Israel’s capacity to
launch a direct strike on Iran.

Concern about Iran’s alleged
nuclear weapons programme is constant in Israel, but tensions between the
Jewish state and the Islamic republic have spiked again.

Iran has accused Israel of
assassinating one of its leading nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh,
outside Tehran last week. Israeli officials have declined to comment on the
allegations.

Israel is also concerned
about US President-elect Joe Biden’s stated goal of reviving the nuclear deal
agreed between Tehran and world powers in 2015.

President Donald Trump
scrapped that deal, earning widespread cheers in Israel.

Asked if the Saar 6 will
enable Israel to strike Iran directly from the Mediterranean Sea, Harel said:
“Directly to Iran is a complicated question and it is not for this
interview.”

But he said the ships will
help counter the Iranian threat more broadly as “Iran is the main sponsor
of Hezbollah.”

The corruption allegations
surrounding the naval procurement, known locally as “the submarine
affair” returned to the headlines last month when Defence Minister Benny
Gantz announced a new inquiry.

Netanyahu is not accused of
wrongdoing in the case, but several of his close associates are suspected for
financial impropriety in the procurement process.

Gantz said this week he would
pause his inquiry at the request of the attorney general, who is conducting his
own probe.