Israel 'Determined' to Halt Syria Missile Deal
Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is "fully determined" to try to halt sales by Russia of advanced missiles to Syria when he visits Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, a minister said Sunday.
A reported Russian plan to sell Damascus S-300 missile batteries "worries us at the highest level and the prime minister is fully determined that this contract should not be fulfilled," Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom, a member of the security cabinet, told public radio.
"Such a sale to Syria would alter the balance of forces in the region and these weapons could fall into the hands of Hizbullah," the ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Israel's arch-foe Iran, Shalom said.
Should Syria obtain the ultra-modern Russian weapons, which can destroy aircraft or guided missiles, "action by countries seeking change in Syria would become much more difficult," he added.
Russian and Israeli officials have said the two leaders are to meet shortly, with Russia's Interfax news agency quoting Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the visit was being planned for next week.
"Netanyahu and Putin will discuss the Russian arms sales to Syria, in particular the sale of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems," Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported Friday, adding that the Israeli premier would also seek to raise the Iranian nuclear issue.
Israel twice last week carried out air strikes near Damascus, attacks a senior Israeli source said were aimed at preventing the transfer of sophisticated weapons to Hizbullah.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that the sale of S300s to Damascus would be "potentially destabilizing" for the region.
Russia however refuses to rule it out however, saying it has to honor existing contracts.
On a visit to Warsaw on Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was continuing to fulfill agreements by delivering military hardware to Assad's regime in defiance of calls for a freeze.
"Russia has sold and signed contracts a long time ago, and is completing supplies of the equipment, which is anti-aircraft systems, according to the already signed contracts," he told reporters.
12 May 2013, 13:19
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They may well be a racist and thugish state but at least they take care of their own and not kiLl them like the Assad regime.
12 May 2013, 18:24
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Josh - u are a sectarian who knows nothing about anything. Your utterences are similar to the anti-muslim, anti-arab diatribes of the extreme right in the US and Europe who I might add are supported by Israel's right. I guess every group have their fools.
12 May 2013, 21:13
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"Should Syria obtain the ultra-modern Russian weapons, which can destroy aircraft or guided missiles, "action by countries seeking change in Syria would become much more difficult,"
That statement, if true, makes deploying S-300s in Syria a logical next step. Besides, how destabilized (by Israel) ME can be further destabilized by curbing Israel's ability to continue to destabilize it?
