Russia to Supply Syria With Dangerous Missiles

[The Watcher]

You think Russia will go ahead with the deal? I don't think so, Syria needs a lot of contacts inside Russia and as much luck to get these missiles as its too dangerous for Israel. Syria might be able to defend itself with those missiles or maybe invade israel, oh no! how could it be. (sarcasm)

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Russia to Supply Syria With Dangerous Missiles
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Russia may supply Syria with an array of missiles that would place most Israeli cities, as well as civilian aircraft, within firing-range, according to a report today in a Russian newspaper.

The Moscow-based Kommersant reported that Russia has plans to sell Syria missiles that would place nearly the entire Jewish State within striking range. The Iskander-E missiles offered to Syria have a 175-mile target-radius, which would place most of Israel’s major cities, as well as the nuclear reactor in Dimona, at the mercy of the viciously anti-Israel Syrian regime.

The Iskander-E missiles are far more advanced than the crude Scud missiles currently in Syria’s arsenal. Israelis have extensive experience with Scuds. Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired hundreds of them at heavily populated areas during the 1991 Gulf War.

Israel’s Channel Two TV also said Russia planned to sell Syria an unspecified number of SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles, which could threaten Israeli aircraft over Syria and southern Lebanon and be passed to any of the Syrian-backed terror groups.

Asked about the deal, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said: "We have close contacts with the Russians. We had consultations over the past few days, and we hope to reach the necessary agreement."

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is scheduled to visit Moscow for the first time on January 24 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=75212

 

[The Watcher]

longer article with some more interesting points
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Russian Missiles Put Israel on Alert

Israel scrambled Wednesday to head off the sale of Russian missiles to its sworn enemy Syria, which Tel Aviv accuses of supporting Palestinian militants and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

A senior Israeli official told The Associated Press in Jerusalem that the planned sale had strained relations with Moscow and that negotiations were underway to head off any deal ahead of Syrian President Bashar Assad's landmark visit to Russia later this month.

"We had consultations over the past few days, and we hope to reach the necessary agreement," AP quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom as saying.

Media in Jerusalem and Moscow gave conflicting reports as to the exact type of missiles being sought by Damascus, but Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said any kind would be unacceptable.

"We have enough problems on the ground with Syria and we don't need more problems from the sky," Peres told AP.

Kommersant cited unnamed sources Wednesday as saying Russia was planning to sell Syria its Iskander-E high-precision surface-to-surface missile. With a range of 280 kilometers and the ability to overcome existing air defense systems, Syria would be able to strike any part of Israel with the missile, including the Dimona nuclear center in the Negev desert.

The paper said Damascus asked Moscow two years ago to sell it 18 Iskanders, which have no NATO equivalent and have never been exported. The price of a single Iskander is estimated to be about $5 million. Syria is also looking to buy advanced air defense systems S-300 PMU2 and Tor-M1, Kommersant said.

Reuters reported Israel's Channel Two television as saying the missiles under discussion were shoulder-fired Igla SA-18s, which could threaten Israeli aircraft over Syria and southern Lebanon.

Military analysts consider the Igla to be one of the most sophisticated missiles of its kind and an ideal weapon for militants. The United States would likely be concerned that such missiles could end up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents, the news agency said.

The Israeli and Russian foreign ministries downplayed the reports and denied any strain in the relationship between the two countries.

"In our export policy we give special attention to prevention of sensitive arms getting into the hands of international terrorists, and the Israeli leadership knows this," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli Embassy in Moscow said it "has nothing to react to as there is no crisis between the two countries."

Both the Syrian Embassy in Moscow and Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms merchant, declined to comment.

A prominent defense think tank in Moscow, the Center for Analysis and Strategic Studies, said it was unlikely Russia would jeopardize its relationship with both Israel and the United States by selling missiles to Syria -- and suggested Kommersant's report was an attempt by its owner, self-exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, to embarrass President Vladimir Putin, who he helped bring to power.

"I don't think it is serious," CAST director Ruslan Pukhov said. "It is hard to imagine that [Rosboronexport chief Viktor] Chemezov does not understand the consequences of such deliveries to Syria."

Even if Kommersant's report is true, Syria could not afford the roughly $2 billion that the weapons the paper mentioned would cost, Pukhov added.

"It all looks like an information war against Putin orchestrated by Berezovsky," CAST deputy director Konstantin Makiyenko said.

Berezovsky said by telephone from London that he was familiar with the Kommersant story, but that he "categorically" had nothing to do with it.

The report came a day after Defense Minster Sergei Ivanov met his U.S. counterpart Donald Rumsfeld in Washington for talks on cracking down on the trafficking of shoulder-fired missiles, a favorite of terrorists.

Analysts pointed out that Russia has tried to sell missiles to Syria in the past and that Israel is clearly concerned about something.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported last week that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a emergency meeting early earlier this month with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the heads of the Israeli intelligence community to discuss a "mystery crisis" in Israel-Russian relations. Wednesday's Kommersant linked the crisis to Syrian missile sales.

According to Israel's Channel Two, tensions became more strained after Putin complained to Tel Aviv about "Israeli sources" pouring "huge sums of money" into the presidential campaign of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who the Kremlin opposed.

Whatever the case, Syria would love to get its hands on Russian missiles, said Christopher Langton, head of defense analysis at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.

"If this is true, Iskander will give a significant boost to Syria's missile capability, and if the S-300 is part of the deal it means that Syria is effectively covered from air attacks," Langton said by phone from London. "It would gain both offensive and defensive posture with this deal."

Siemon Wezeman, acting head of the arms transfer project at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said Israel, with the help of Washington, got Russia to abandon a planned sale of Igla missiles to Syria two years ago.

"Anything that goes to Syria, Israel will protest," Wezeman said.

The U.S. State Department repeatedly grilled Russia over a contract it signed in 1998 to sell Damascus its Metis-E and Kornet-E anti-tank missile systems, slapping economic sanctions on their maker, Tula-based Instrument-Building Design Bureau.

"Syria would like to buy more weapons from Russia to upgrade its arsenals imported from the Soviet Union," said Marat Kenzhetayev, an expert at the Center for Arms Control in Moscow.

Syria and Russia signed a number of agreements in the 1990s for the delivery of arms worth billions of dollars, but they were never realized.

"As there is no arms embargo against Syria, arms sales are legal but are frowned upon by the United States," Kenzhetayev said.

Langton of the International Institute of Strategic Studies said it would only be clear if there is a deal or not with Syria after Assad meets with Putin in St. Petersburg later this month.

"If this is true, the United States will see it as President Putin saying 'I can act as I please without talking to you about these things,' which will alarm them quite considerably," Langton said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/13/001.html

 

[mysterious]

Russia denies Syria missile plan

The Russian government has again denied reports that it is planning to sell powerful new missiles to Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there was no truth in the reports, echoing previous comments by Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov.

The issue was raised on Thursday by Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who said he had urged Russia not to go ahead with the alleged plans.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is to visit Moscow at the end of this month.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Moscow says there are fears that Syria could be trying to get hold of SS-26 Iskander tactical missiles, similar to the Scuds once used by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

With a range of almost 300km (190 miles), they would be able to hit most of Israel.

Of even more concern are Igla anti-aircraft missiles, which are portable, shoulder-launched and ideal for targeting aeroplanes and helicopters, our correspondent says.

However, Mr Lavrov denied that Moscow was negotiating with Damascus on the issue, saying: "We don't have any secret topics in our relations with Syria."

'No missile talks'

His denial came two days after Mr Ivanov said Russia had no intention of selling missiles to Syria.

Speaking after a meeting with US State Secretary Colin Powell in Washington, Mr Ivanov told Russian television on Wednesday: "There are no talks under way between Russia and Syria concerning shipment of such missiles. Such talks are not taking place."

On Thursday, after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Mr Shalom said: "We spoke to the Russians and we asked them to scrap this contract."

He accused Syria of constantly supplying weapons to the militant Lebanese Shia Muslim group Hezbollah, which has attacked Israel in the past.

The US State Department has warned that Russia could face sanctions if any sale of military equipment to Syria goes ahead.

The Russian and Israeli media say the missile issue has caused a crisis in bilateral relations ahead of Mr Assad's visit to Russia.

But Mr Ivanov said such allegations always emerged whenever a Middle East leader visited Moscow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4175343.stm

Looks like there's going to be a good debate on this issue! I think the Russians are telling the truth and haven't made any missile deal with Syria. It is pretty true that whenever a Middle East leader visits Russia or some other powerful nation, rumours come out that the visit was intended for military cooperation and sales of military equipment. I dont think I need to point out where the rumours originate from.

 

[The Watcher]

i would like to see countries in middle east having same military advantage as israel (free support from US/UK all on shoulder of loving and caring Tax payers) and then see if it has any gutts to threaten its neighbors.

 

[mysterious]

Interestingly, I was reading this editorial the other day and it had a statement that read, Israel is pretty much nothing more than a military machine churning violence day-out, day-in with its actions and postures.

 

[gf0012-aust]

i would like to see countries in middle east having same military advantage as israel (free support from US/UK all on shoulder of loving and caring Tax payers) and then see if it has any gutts to threaten its neighbors.

Yep, all of the Arab league combined hasn't been able to deal with them at a force majeur level. ( have you added up the combined populations and military assets of all the league members who have contributed in all the wars? - it's embarassing if not humiliating that force ratio + Russian backfilling didn't do a thing). You seem to forget that while the Americans were supplying the Israelis, the Russians were just as quickly backfilling the Syrians, and Egyptians. While the US had the 6th Fleet in the Med, the Russians had their fleet countering in the Med). Some of those states hate each other as much as they hate Israel. I know - I've worked with them and attended Middle Eastern military conferences in the last 6 months run by the GCC.

You could stick the Israelis in Chariots and they'd still win.

You need to study military history of all the wars fought since 1948 in that region. It would be a good idea to include the Russians in the equation as well.

The only professional military in that Region outside of the Israelis are the Jordanians. The others might have equipment, but even that doesn't help. (Witness the comments from French and Russian trainers who were involved in the 80's). The Indian Navy is also discovering the same problem with some of the training that they are providing to GCC members.

BTW, what military support has the UK been providing in all the wars involved? They were actually fighting the Israelis in 1948, so that counts that one out.

and before someone raises the urban myhthology that the USAF was flying strike in rebadged aircraft - it has been strenuously supported by the Russians that this never happened. They (after all) were sitting by watching it unfold.

Remember the Egyptians accused the USAF of covert support and asked for Russian assistance - the Russians rejected the claims outright.

Apart from the genius of the Bar Lev operation, and the close success of the Golan operation by the Syrians, the Israelis are by far the most competent persistent military power in that region and have demonstrated it even when hammered.

In both Golan and Bar Lev the Israelis should have been crushed and yet they rallied - better tactics, better soldiers and better comprehension of combined arms. In both instances the turn around had nothing to do with resupply but got down to the basics of hand to hand warfighting.

The Golan Heights is still studied in war colleges as an example of how a professional disciplined and absolutely smaller force can turn defeat into victory.

 

[Aussie Digger]

Interestingly, I was reading this editorial the other day and it had a statement that read, Israel is pretty much nothing more than a military machine churning violence day-out, day-in with its actions and postures.

And what publication was this in pray tell? ANY editorial is nothing more than an opinion. It is the opinion of an experienced journalist, nothing more. Their opinion is no more valid than anyone else's and considerably less than a lot of peoples's IMHO...

Violence begats violence, Myst. If Israel is attacked, it will surely respond. All the most recent Israeli "attacks" have been responses to attacks by Palestinian gunmen, who blatanly ignored the call from their own new President to end the violence. Both sides (including the gunmen) SHOULD implement an immediate ceasefire. But that appears likely to happen shortly after hell freezes over...

 

[mysterious]

Yes I know what an editorial is. I just pointed that statement out 'cuz it made some sense. About the violence begats violence, well its an ever running cycle. One attacks the other, the other retaliates. You are so quick to blame the militants, tell me how long had it been before the last militant attack when the Israelis started home razing operations in Gaza the last two times?!?! When Israelis do that, its quite humiliating to the Palestinians and ego comes in; then militants strike at Israeli targets. To clap, you need two hands! Anyways, I'm sick of the daily Israeli-Palestinian violence. I just hope some day both sides get some sense knocked in to them and shun violence.

 

[srirangan]

If I'm not mistaken, Russia has already denied this alleged sale. Can't remember where I read this though, I think I saw it on the TV.

 

[mysterious]

I think I posted that 'denial' news above. Feel free to scroll.

 

[kashifshahzad]

:coffee I think Russia will not supply missiles to Syria caz the missile range may reach Isreal soo some countries will hate this contract:coffee