[Ha'aretz] Russian media on Thursday quoted Syrian President Assad as saying ahead of a visit to Moscow that Syria was ready to negotiate hosting Russian surface-to-surface Iskander missiles on its soil, which Moscow says are capable of penetrating any missile defense. Assad offered to host the Russian missiles as a response to a deal signed by Washington and Warsaw this week to deploy elements of a U.S. missile defense system in Poland. Syria is interested in purchasing Russia's Pantsyr-S1 air defense missile system, the BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft and other hardware, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted a diplomatic source as saying. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We are ready to consider requests from the Syrian side on buying more arms." Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "It is a mutual interest of Russia, of Israel and of the pragmatic leaders and states in the region not to send long-range missiles to Syria."
2008-08-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive