Rusland verkoopt middellange afstand raketten aan Syrie

[Spoetnik]

Syria missile deal said at heart of Israeli-Russia crisis
By Haaretz Service

A recent mystery crisis in Israeli-Russia relations - the subject of wide speculation with its details remaining classified - was sparked by Moscow's plans to sell Syria missiles capable of striking at nearly any target within Israel, the Moscow daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.
It said the Iskander-E missile has a target radius capable of reaching nearly all of Israel within reach, including the nuclear reactor site outside Dimona.

Only the southern Negev and Eilat would be out of range.

Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have expressed concern that the missiles would get into the hands of Hezbollah and disrupt the military balance in the Middle East.

The Russian daily reported that Israel recalled its ambassador in Russia over the deal.

Israel has briefed the American administration on the crisis in its relations with Russia. Israel did not ask the United States to intervene, even though the Americans have dealt with this matter in the past.

Consultations held by the political echelon in Jerusalem resulted in a decision to attempt to solve the matter through direct talks with Moscow, and not to get help from the U.S. for the time being.

Meanwhile, tension is mounting in Jerusalem ahead of Syrian President Bashar Assad's first visit to Moscow, on January 24. Assad will meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss bilateral cooperation in various fields. Putin is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush about a month later in Slovakia.

The Kommersant report was based on recent Haaretz accounts of a severe crisis in relations between the Sharon and Putin governments.

The Iskander is a relatively new weapons systems, having been developed in the 1990s. Two years ago, Damascus sought to purchase 18 of the systems, but the matter was delayed by final testing of the missile. The tests were completed in August.

Rumors of cause of crisis
As reported in Haaretz last week, the crisis in Israeli-Russian relations was the focus of a special meeting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened 10 days ago with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the intelligence community. The meeting ended with the Foreign Ministry being assigned to take charge of reviewing the matter and suggesting ways of resolving the problem.

A first discussion took place early this week at the Foreign Ministry, with representatives of all relevant branches in attendance, but no recommendations have been submitted yet to the political echelon.

Political sources in Jerusalem Tuesday denied the Channel 2 news report that the reason for the diplomatic crisis is Putin's anger over alleged intervention in the Ukrainian elections by people in Israel, and their support for his political rivals. The political sources said the problem stemmed from something completely different which concerns Russia's conduct.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/526031.html

Dit nieuws komt vlak nadat geruchten op het internet circuleren dat Bush van plan zou zijn Syrie in Februari al aan te vallen.

[observer]

ik dacht dat een syrier met een te volle blaas al elk doel in israel kon raken?

[Spoetnik]

U.S. mulls strikes on Syria


By Richard Sale
UPI Intelligence Correspondent

New York, NY, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Bush administration hard-liners have been considering launching selected military strikes at insurgent training camps in Syria and border-crossing points used by Islamist guerrillas to enter Iraq in an effort to bolster security for the upcoming elections, according to former and current administration officials.
Click to learn more...

Pressure for some form of military action is also coming from interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, these sources said.

Some former and serving U.S. intelligence officials who have usually been opposed to any expansion of U.S. military activities in the region are expressing support for such strikes.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official told United Press International, "I don't usually find myself in sympathy with the Bush neo-cons, but I think there is enough fire under this smoke to justify such action."

Referring to the escalating attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq by Iraqi insurgents, he added, "Syria is complicit in the (anti-U.S.) insurgency up to its eyeballs."

"Syria is the No. 1 crossing point" for guerrillas entering Iraq," Gary Gambill, editor of the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, said. He added that Damascus "does nothing about it."

An administration official said Syria has "camps in which Syrians are training Iraqis for the insurgency and others where Iraqis are training Syrians for the same purpose" which could be hit by U.S. air strikes.

Gal Luft, a former Israeli military official with ties to Israeli and U.S. intelligence, said, "I have heard of the same thing about the camps."

Recently, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said that senior Baath Party officials from Iraq are operating from Syria where they provide financing and direction to the cells of Iraqi insurgents killing Americans, sparking new discussions within the administration about possible measures against Syria.

"There are all sorts of discussions going on, the White House, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs," said former CIA counterterrorism chief, Vince Cannistraro.

He felt the talk of strikes "is part of a general plan of intimidation."

The White House did not return phone calls.

U.S. officials told United Press International that money, direction, weapons and personnel are flowing into Iraq from Syria, ending up in Iraqi cities such as Iskanderiya, Baqouba, Latafiya and Fallujah.

Damascus is also home to associates of a top insurgency commander now affiliated with al-Qaida, Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi, who is responsible for many major suicide bombing attacks in Iraq, U.S. officials said.

The presence of a Zarqawi branch in Damascus, discovered last summer, was said to have acted as a major spur in uniting France and the United States in supporting U.N. Resolution 1559 that demanded Syria withdraw from Lebanon and that elections be held in April 2005, U.S. officials said.

Gambill charged that a major Zarqawi deputy lives in Damascus.

In addition to Syria being used as a rear area for insurgents, it is a key center of finance for former Saddam Hussein officials who are leading the insurgency, thanks to stashes of Iraqi cash that could run as high as $3 billion, which is all in the Syrian banking system, according for former and serving administration officials.

There are also allegedly "many millions of dollars" from Palestinian groups flowing into Syria that are also being used to help finance anti-American guerrilla groups in Iraq, these sources said.

The Bush administration has applied increasing pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to halt the activities of militant groups inside Syria, and to arrest and extradite former Saddam Hussein officials who are the leading financiers, according to several U.S. government sources.

So far there has been no positive response, they said.

What especially worries U.S. former and serving intelligence analysts is the seeming weakness of Assad to act against these groups. According to these sources, Assad is "well aware of the U.S. Army on its border to the east," and does not want to antagonize the United States, in the words of one.

In fact, Bashar's inner circle of key advisers consists of reformist, "smart, streetwise young technocrats" who are urging Bashar to yield to U.S. pressure and begin to shut down some of the anti-U.S. activity, one U.S. official said.

But Bashar is also surrounded by "the old guard" -- rogue members of the ruling circle, "various people who are making millions and millions of dollars" by allowing former Baath officials to shelter in Syria, this source said.

"If something goes wrong, they can pack up and go and live in Geneva," he said.

Because of the rogue elements, after the technocrats (who are also pro-reform) give Bashar their views, they often find themselves visited the next day by hard-line members of Syria's Mukhabarat, or secret police, who tell them to keep their mouths shut, according to this official.

"Bashar is trapped," this U.S. government official said. "He's the prisoner of Zenda."

Luft agreed, saying, "The Mukhabarat and some of the old guard are known to be pressuring Bashar's senior confidents to ignore U.S. demands."

One former senior CIA official, usually an administration critic, said, "We should send a cruise missile into south-side Damascus and blow the Mukharbarat headquarters off the map. We should first make clear to them that they are the target."

But are the hawks likely to get their strikes?

Former CIA Syria expert, Martha Kessler doesn't think so. "I don't think the administration can afford to destabilize another country in the region," she said.

Kessler pointed out that Syria has tried, often in vain, to cooperate with the United States, only to be either snubbed or ignored.

According to Kesssler, Syria offered to station U.S. forces on its soil before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Syrians have also opened their intelligence books that identify assets in Europe, including front companies, to the administration in an attempt to help track down al-Qaida.

But Kessler said a chief reason for not moving against Damascus is that any strikes would "destabilize Lebanon," where the Lebanese Hezbollah movement awaits orders from Iran before launching retaliations against Israeli attacks.

"Damascus is not the heartbeat of this Iraqi insurgent movement," she said.

However, one administration official said, "We have got one hell of a problem."
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050111-105709-6329r.htm

[Al Sawt]

Geplaatst door observer
ik dacht dat een syrier met een te volle blaas al elk doel in israel kon raken? Syrie is inderdaad al capabel, om elk doelwit in heel Israel te treffen. Maar de Iskander is veel preciezer en kan door Russisch variant van GPS worden begeleidt naar haar doelwit.

[Al Sawt]

Als Syrie wordt aangevallen, hoop ik dat heel Midden Oosten gaat branden en met name die ka.nkergezwel ten zuiden van Syrie.

[Spoetnik]

U.S. demands Russia cancel proposed missiles sale to Syria
By Haaretz Service

The United States is demanding Russia cancel its proposed sale of missiles to Syria, warning that it will consider imposing sanctions against Moscow should the deal go ahead, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
A State Department spokesperson made the administration's stance public a short time before Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the administration is opposed to weapons sales to Damascus, and that its position was well known to Moscow.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov visited Israel on Wednesday and discussed with government officials a recent crisis between Moscow and Jerusalem over reported Russian plans to sell Syria missiles capable of striking targets within Israel.

The details of the crisis were reported Wednesday in the Moscow daily Kommersant.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/526031.html

[Onno26]

Als Syrie wordt aangevallen, hoop ik dat heel Midden Oosten gaat branden en met name die ka.nkergezwel ten zuiden van Syrie.

Nou nou dat hebben die arme Jordaniers niet verdiend

[Blade20]

Hebben de Russen ook bij de handleingen ervan er bij gezet dat het gebruik van hun raketten "Op eigen risico" is? :hihi:

[observer]

Geplaatst door Al Sawt
Als Syrie wordt aangevallen, hoop ik dat heel Midden Oosten gaat branden en met name die ka.nkergezwel ten zuiden van Syrie. wordt het niet eens tijd voor een cursus in angermanagement