Jerusalem, Apr 01: Close on the heels of us charges that Syria was helping Iraq in the ongoing war, Israel has said Iraq may be using Syria to hide forbidden long-range surface-to-surface missiles and chemical and biological weapons. The charges were made by head of the military intelligence research unit, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, in a meeting of the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee yesterday, local media reported. The charges echoed similar claims made by Prime Minister Sharon in a television interview in December. Sharon had said that there was a possibility that Saddam had sent biological and chemical weapons to Syria, in an effort to hide them from United Nations weapons inspectors.

Giving an assessment of the dangers posed by the war on Israel, Kuperwasser told the committee that the likelihood of an attack on Israel was still low under the prevailing situation. However, he warned that this could change in a very short space of time, for example, if coalition troops found Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq or carried out a significant attack on a leading Iraqi official. In December, following the charges made by Sharon, daily Ha'aretz had reported that some Iraqi equipment transferred from Iraq to Syria was apparently earmarked for Hezbollah in Lebanon, to be used in opening a northern front against Israel in the event of an American offensive in Iraq.

The shipments reportedly contained Iraqi rockets with a range of 100 to 150 km, and possibly also various items that Iraq wanted to hide in Lebanon.

Bureau Report