Turkiye unveils Steel Dome project to integrate air defense 

Turkiye last week announced its plans to inaugurate the Steel Dome project, a multi-layered and comprehensive air defense shield system to be built with domestic resources. (Reuters/File Photo)
Turkiye last week announced its plans to inaugurate the Steel Dome project, a multi-layered and comprehensive air defense shield system to be built with domestic resources. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 13 August 2024
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Turkiye unveils Steel Dome project to integrate air defense 

Turkiye unveils Steel Dome project to integrate air defense 
  • Turkiye has also pledged to increase its defense spending to more than 2 percent of its national income as part of NATO membership criteria

ANKARA: Turkiye last week announced its plans to inaugurate the Steel Dome project, a multi-layered and comprehensive air defense shield system to be built with domestic resources.

Haluk Gorgun, the secretary of Turkish Defence Industries, said the project will help all sensors and weapons systems work together in an integrated network with real-time operational capabilities, while the system will be supported by artificial intelligence.

An important milestone in the country’s indigenous defense industry, the system will incorporate various technologies developed by domestic companies for different altitudes and ranges.

The project will be spearhead by defense electronics manufacturer Aselsan, and it will also include key domestic players which produce rockets, guided missiles, small arms, artillery and ammunition.

It will integrate and simultaneously operate all warning systems, including radar, electro-optical technologies, drones, satellites, aircraft, as well as low and high-altitude defence missiles and fighter jets. It will therefore help all individual air defense systems to work together and improve response times.

Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, said it is unclear yet if the system would be designed to complement NATO’s current and projected air and missile defense system.

“It is safe to assume that they can be smoothly integrated into the alliance’s air defense network if Ankara decides so,” he told Arab News.

“The project itself aims to integrate Turkiye’s air defense capabilities, facilitate interoperability and create a layered air defence system that collects and shares information from all sensors. It aims to make more efficient use of existing systems," Guvenc added. 

Turkiye has also pledged to increase its defense spending to more than 2 percent of its national income as part of NATO membership criteria. 

As for the possibility of integrating the S-400 Russian missile defense system into this project, Guvenc believes this is unlikely because Turkiye’s weapons systems are produced according to NATO standards and are designed to be interoperable with NATO. “Integrating such a system with the S-400s is not feasible,” he said.

The project does not involve the production of new weapons, but will use sensors, processors and AI for integration purposes. “This approach does not require extensive hardware. The missile components of the system are already produced in Turkiye, and the entire integration process is expected to take about a year,” Guvenc said.

Since this initiative is focused on strengthening national air defense and is a response to the threats posed by neighbouring countries, particularly Russia and Iran, Guvenc believes that any step taken by Turkiye to improve its security should be seen as an effort to counter potential threats from regional actors as it aims to provide an impenetrable defense over Turkish airspace.

The project, when completed, will not only strengthen the NATO member’s air defense system, but also the alliance’s southeastern flank by enabling precise tracking, accurate identification and neutralization of regional targets, including stealth aircraft and cruise missiles, under a centralized command and control.

“It will contribute more effectively to the recognized air picture and provide additional information against both regional and global threats. By developing a network that enables better response times, the project will strengthen NATO’s overall system,” Guvenc said.

On the cost-benefit side, experts say the indigenous and AI-supported project appears to be cost-effective for now as it will make use of components that are already in military inventory.

However, the costs may escalate if the system needs advanced sensors and more sophisticated command and control systems, while any upgrade to a component would require adjustments to others — another factor that could increase costs.

“Developing a missile defense system from scratch would be much more expensive. The cost of integrating it into existing systems is relatively low compared to developing a new system capable of intercepting and destroying ballistic missiles before they enter the atmosphere,” Guvenc said.

“The core of the project is an advanced battle management system designed to command and control all air defense resources through a unified network in the event of a threat. By incorporating artificial intelligence into the system, the need for large numbers of personnel will be reduced, although a skilled workforce will still be essential,” he added.

Boosting the cybersecurity of the system is also a must because the integration of various components under a single system will also increase the vulnerability against potential cyber-attacks.

The timing of the announcement of this new project has also stirred debate. According to Guvenc, the importance of multi-layered air defense systems has been highlighted by recent battlefield experiences in Ukraine and Gaza.

Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based think-tank EDAM and a visiting fellow at Carnegie Europe, agrees.

“What we have seen recently is that air superiority has taken on a critical importance in regional conflicts. The latest, of course, is the attack that Iran has orchestrated against Israel, using missiles and armed drones. So, this latest episode epitomises the changing nature of regional warfare,” he told Arab News. 

“This is essentially the context that has led the Turkish authorities to strengthen the country’s air and missile defense capabilities. This is an area in which Turkiye has long been deficient,” he added.

According to Ulgen, this is why it has tried to acquire first Western systems and most recently the Russian S-400 system, which then triggered US sanctions.

“More recently, Turkiye has accelerated the pace at which it is developing national capabilities for air missile defense. Although they are not combat-proven, Turkiye now has low and medium-range air defence systems and is able to produce them with national capabilities. What it lacks now is the kind of integrated architecture that Israel has with Iron Dome, which is essential to increase the level of protection provided by these systems,” he said.

Ulgen also noted that at the moment, Turkiye has some of these capabilities, but it does not have high-altitude systems.

“Turkiye relies on NATO’s missile defense umbrella to protect itself against this type of attack. Turkiye will now be able to address one of these major defence gaps, also known as deterrence by denial. It will be able to demonstrate to its rivals that it can eliminate the missile threat, which would give Turkiye a significant advantage,” he said.

However, such a new integrated system will require a long-term commitment, significant spending to achieve this goal, and additional capabilities that would have to be acquired, Ulgen said, adding that it will also guide future defence industry efforts and investments towards this goal.


Turkish-American activist’s family awaits body for burial

Turkish-American activist’s family awaits body for burial
Updated 19 sec ago
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Turkish-American activist’s family awaits body for burial

Turkish-American activist’s family awaits body for burial
  • Her family is still waiting for Eygi’s body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday

DIDIM, Turkiye: The family of a Turkish-American activist killed during a protest in the occupied West Bank is expecting to bury her in Turkiye, her uncle told AFP on Wednesday.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of having shot Eygi, 26, in the head.
The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and said it was looking into the case.
Her family is still waiting for Eygi’s body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, told AFP.
“It’s important that a young girl, martyred and sensitive to the world is buried here.”
Eygi was a frequent visitor to the Aegean seaside resort.
“It’s likely that the funeral will take place on Friday but nothing is certain,” said Tikkim, who said he believed her body was still in Israel.
“Israel asked for an autopsy” but Eygi’s parents refused and have “hired a lawyer” to inform Israeli authorities, Tikkim said.
The US embassy in Turkiye’s capital Ankara said it was “following the case” but refused to comment.
Tikkim said that Eygi’s mother, who lives in Seattle on the US west coast, arrived in Didim on Wednesday and that her father was on his way.
The family wanted Eygi to be buried in Didim, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest, said Tikkim.
“Aysenur was here about two weeks ago. She came here twice a year when she could, to swim and visit her family,” he said.
“Then she told us she was going to Jordan. She went to Palestine for humanitarian reasons.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to provide “full accountability” for Eygi’s death.


Hamas meets with mediators in Doha over Gaza truce

Hamas meets with mediators in Doha over Gaza truce
Updated 11 September 2024
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Hamas meets with mediators in Doha over Gaza truce

Hamas meets with mediators in Doha over Gaza truce
  • The Palestinian group said they had discussed “developments concerning the Palestinian cause and the aggression on the Gaza Strip“
  • Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a halt to the fighting

DOHA: A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a truce in Gaza and a potential hostage and prisoner exchange, the militant group said in a statement.
Hamas said its lead negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
The Palestinian group said they had discussed “developments concerning the Palestinian cause and the aggression on the Gaza Strip” without indicating that talks had resulted in a breakthrough.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a halt to the fighting between Hamas and Israel, with the exception of a one-week truce beginning in late November.
During the sole pause in the now 11-month war, 105 hostages were released to Israel in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners under the deal struck by mediators.
Recent rounds of mediation held in Doha and Cairo have been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the parties in August.
The Hamas statement reiterated its “readiness for the immediate implementation of the ceasefire agreement based on President Biden’s declaration.”
Pressure for a deal has intensified after Israeli authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September when their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down in his calls for Israeli control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border — a key sticking point in negotiations — saying it was necessary to stop Hamas from rearming
Last week, Egypt and then Qatar rejected the charge that the border was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of trying to distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct a ceasefire deal.
In the statement on Wednesday, Hamas also restated its demand for Israel’s withdrawal from “all Gaza territories.”
The militant group also claimed it had not placed any further demands on negotiators and at the same time was “rejecting any new conditions to this agreement from any party.”


Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war
Updated 11 September 2024
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Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

BAGHDAD: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has slammed the West, saying that Israel is “committing massacres” in the war in Gaza and using European and American weapons to do so.

Pezeshkian, who spoke in Baghdad at the start of his first visit abroad since taking office, hopes to cement Tehran’s ties to Baghdad.

“The Israeli entity is committing massacres against women, children, young men, and the elderly. They bomb hospitals and schools,” Pezeshkian said.

“All these crimes are being committed by using European and American ammunition and bombs,” he added.

Ahead of Pezeshkian’s arrival, an explosion struck a site near Baghdad International Airport used by the US military on Tuesday night. There were no reported casualties, and the circumstances of the explosion were unclear.

The US Embassy later described it as an “attack” on the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound, an American diplomatic facility, and that it was “assessing the damage” and the cause of the explosion. It did not provide further details.


US sanctions Lebanese network over alleged oil, LPG smuggling for Hezbollah

US sanctions Lebanese network over alleged oil, LPG smuggling for Hezbollah
Updated 11 September 2024
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US sanctions Lebanese network over alleged oil, LPG smuggling for Hezbollah

US sanctions Lebanese network over alleged oil, LPG smuggling for Hezbollah
  • The sanctions target three people, five companies and two vessels that the US Treasury Department said were overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah’s finance team

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration on Wednesday issued sanctions on a Lebanese network it accused of smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help fund the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The sanctions target three people, five companies and two vessels that the US Treasury Department said were overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah’s finance team and used profits from illicit LPG shipments to Syria to aid generate revenue for the group.
Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith, in a statement, said Hezbollah “continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon.”


Egypt urges robust efforts to bolster Palestinian hopes for self-determination

Egypt urges robust efforts to bolster Palestinian hopes for self-determination
Updated 11 September 2024
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Egypt urges robust efforts to bolster Palestinian hopes for self-determination

Egypt urges robust efforts to bolster Palestinian hopes for self-determination
  • Deadly bombardment of Gaza humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, draws widespread condemnation
  • Tor Wennesland, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process since 2021, also condemned the strike on Al-Mawasi

CAIRO: An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza prompted condemnations on Wednesday from across the region and beyond.

The strike hit Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip, which Israel had designated as a humanitarian zone early in the war.

Egypt condemned the bombardment in the strongest terms.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates also called for “intensifying efforts to restore hope to the Palestinian people in achieving self-determination and regaining their freedom.”

Al-Mawasi has been turned into the main displacement and refuge area for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, who have been ordered by the Israeli military to leave their homes.

The Egyptian statement denounced the “continued Israeli massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip in the absence of any effective international action to put an end to such human suffering.”

It said Israeli actions “challenge the credibility of all humanitarian standards and values and constitute a violation of the most basic rules of international humanitarian law and human rights.”

It also said Egypt “considers that the continuation of these crimes and the disregard for the lives of innocents and civilians has become a threat to regional and international peace and security and calls on all global stakeholders to shun the policy of double standards and assume their humanitarian and moral responsibilities to halt this human tragedy immediately.”

The statement said Egypt “reminds all parties that putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people in a just manner and restoring regional security and stability will not only be achieved by reaching a full ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but also by achieving a just and lasting settlement to this conflict — the sole foundation of which is the two-state solution based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Tor Wennesland, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process since 2021, also condemned the strike, saying international humanitarian law “must be upheld at all times.”