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Inside the Syrian Missile Crisis

(Foreign Policy) Andrew Tabler - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's apparent decision to transfer more accurate and longer-range weapons to Hizbullah is a disheartening development for U.S. officials, who had hoped Obama's diplomatic opening would lead the Syrian regime to moderate its behavior. As Damascus arms its Lebanese ally with an increasingly lethal array of weaponry, Syria's credibility as a peace partner for Israel is increasingly in doubt. Weapons have been flowing from Syria to Lebanon for decades. However, in recent months, reports have indicated that the sophistication of the weapons systems provided to Hizbullah has grown. In October 2009, Jane's Defence Weekly reported that Syria had supplied Hizbullah with M-600 rockets, a Syrian variant of the Iranian Fatah 110, which can carry a 500-kilogram payload to a target 250 kilometers away. In March, the head of the research division of the Israel Defense Forces' Military Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Yossi Baidatz, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Syria had recently provided Hizbullah with the Igla-S man-portable air defense system. The shoulder-fired weapon can bring down Israeli drones, helicopter gunships, and low-flying fighter aircraft. Reports also surfaced in March that Syria had delivered Scud-D missiles to Lebanon. These missiles have a range of up to 700 kilometers, which means they could hit most, if not all, Israeli cities even if fired from northern Lebanon. They can also carry chemical or biological warheads. The writer is a fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2010-04-16 09:11:57
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