The Unthinkable - Iran Nuclear strike against Israel

[Officer of Engineers]

Or using a small grouping of smaller nukes (that the Israelis do have) to basically shotgun blast the city. In that situation four or five 50-100kt nukes would be just as effective as the 5MT nuke.

What do you mean by "just as effective?" Number of people killed? Infrastruture destroyed? Governing power gone?

[chakos]

In a starburst pattern a grouping of nukes going off would be more effective in terminally degrading all aspects you mentioned. Lets say a 50-100kt Nuke would pretty much kill <50% of people withing a 5km radius and <25% in a 10km radius.

It may not be on par with a single 5MT nuke per target but at the same time your giving more targets to the enemy to deal with. Completelly overwhelming any emergency services.

Most cities could effectivelly be taken out (in the sense of being a functioning, operating city with a single small nuke in the CBD. For wiping out populations in large cities you need to spread your nukes over the whole city rather than dropping a nuke in the middle of a city no matter how big.

Lets use my home town Sydney as an example. It spreads 70km from coast to mountains, and about 90km from north to south. No one nuke could waste all that area. Four smaller nukes could hit in a way that the city would completelly be wiped out except for some minor areas on the extremeties.

To answer your previous question to starve a city in my mind would mean constricting the flow of supplies to under the level that the city requires and constricting it for a long enough period for the city to run out of supplies.

Is there any other way to starve a city?

[Officer of Engineers]

You're going way too complicated. Think water and sewage.

[chakos]

Well i suppose if you stop the water going in and the poo coming out you could pretty much disable a city.

Point taken Sir, i tend to overanalyse things.

[zraver]

What is the easiest way to kill a city?

I am not trying to be evil, its just germane to the thread. Sir, it depends on the city, what in it you want to kill and why.

Assuming Tehran, pop 7.7 million

What you want to kill- population Why- Iran is tryign to kill Jews.

8 devices

1- FOBS attack to fry the grid. It locks a big portion of the survivors in place. With no power- no pumps no freezers, no sanitation no mass transit. Turns the survivors into a disease factory as stress and wounds break down the immune system.

2- 4x boosted fission devices loaded for max fallout over the main population residences nearest the cardinal points plus 1 over the main transportation hub and 1 over down town.

3- A 3rd device in order to punch the main reservoir/damn north of the city to both flood the city and remove about 50% of the potable water supplies.

4- Last device in the SW corner on the junction of the Southern and Trans-Iranian rail lines.

Plus Tehran sits in a natural amphitheater so the fallout is not going anywhere fast. and the mountains reflectivity containment will magnify the effects.

Assuming Mecca 3 devices

What you want to kill- Islam's greatest shrine Why- payback for antisemitism.

1 right after the other target on top of the Kaaba

Assuming Damascus

What you want to kill- population why- 70% of Syria's population lives there, pure revenge.

4-6 devices in an uneven triangle (3 devices) from Darrayya airport and the adjoining highway as the west point to Yarmuk on the east. Then go straight north from there to Al Qubun. That forms the triangle, then use the remaining 1-3 to fill in the gaps depending on yield.

[zraver]

You're going way too complicated. Think water and sewage.

I didn't see this post when I posted mine.

[Officer of Engineers]

I didn't see this post when I posted mine.

Valid answers but what I was trying to get at is how Israel would have to maximize the effects of its nukes in order to achieve the SAMPSON option and not just kill a city but kill a country.

[Kernow]

Use Biological Weapons to poisent the water supply etc. Israel did not sign the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention!!!!!!!

[Officer of Engineers]

I really don't like biolgoicals nor chemicals except in a concentrated attack spanning days or weeks. Fresh water, filters, and boiling does wonders to the bugs and dirty water. If you've got sand, that is an extremely good though slow filter.

Destroying the pumps, however, does wonders and cholera takes hold extremely fast, usually within 2-3 days.

[zraver]

Valid answers but what I was trying to get at is how Israel would have to maximize the effects of its nukes in order to achieve the SAMPSON option and not just kill a city but kill a country.

Killing any of those three,kills the country as well.

Tehran- industry and brain pool
Mecca- ideology and reason for being
Damascus- majority of the national population

[Kernow]

Killing any of those three,kills the country as well.

Tehran- industry and brain pool
Mecca- ideology and reason for being
Damascus- majority of the national population

You would be absolutely insane to go anywhere near Mecca

[Officer of Engineers]

That would be the point.

[Kernow]

You would be absolutely insane to go anywhere near Mecca

If you dared touch Mecca, the whole of the Islamic world would uprise, and that is a lot of people going nuts around the world.

[Officer of Engineers]

The point is what does Israel considers its Kamakazie options. If Israel is to go down, should she take Mecca with her.

[zraver]

If you dared touch Mecca, the whole of the Islamic world would uprise, and that is a lot of people going nuts around the world.

If Israel is going down and the Samson Option is on the table, the Kaaba is gone. You can't kill a dead Jew twice so they have nothing to lose.

In fact they will probably hit every holy site in Islam. Revenge is strictly about revenge, not morality.