SYRIA -- MOST ADVANCED IN ARAB WORLD IN CHEMICAL WEAPONS
(Article by London correspondent, "Ma'ariv", Aug 8, 1996, p. A7)JANE'S SENTINEL, WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED THIS WEEKEND, STATES THAT SYRIA HAS THOUSANDS OF NERVE GAS BOMBS AND WARHEADS. DAMASCUS VIEWS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING STRATEGIC BALANCE WITH ISRAEL -- BUT IT IS STILL FAR FROM ACHIEVING SUCH A BALANCE. SYRIAN BOMBERS CAN CARRY OUT SERIOUS ATTACKS AGAINST TARGETS SUCH AS TEL AVIV. BY USING ITS MISSILES, SYRIA CAN ATTACK TARGETS IN MOST OF ISRAEL'S TERRITORY. FROM A QUALITATIVE STANDPOINT, SYRIA'S STRATEGIC WEAPONS ARE GREATLY INFERIOR TO THOSE OF ISRAEL. THE SYRIANS MAY DEVELOP CRUISE MISSILE CAPABLE OF CARRYING NON-CONVENTIONAL WARHEADS AS WELL.
In recent years, Syria has made considerable improvements in its military forces -- both in ground forces and in air defense, and in developing surface-to-surface missiles. At the same time, it is still very far from "strategic parity" with Israel -- both from a quantitative and a qualitative standpoint. This is according to Jane's Sentinel, which will be published this weekend.
Syria invests a great deal in developing and procuring weapons of mass destruction, but from a qualitative standpoint, its strategic weapons are greatly inferior to those of Israel, writes Jane's Sentinel.
The Syrian air force is capable of delivering a deadly blow to Israel, and there is no doubt that the air force's structure shows that its objectives go far beyond defensive goals. Syria's inventory of fighter and attack aircraft can enable it to pin down the Israel air defense, so that Syrian bombers can carry out serious attacks on targets such as Tel Aviv.
Attacks such as these, will have destructive results, especially if the Syrians use non-conventional weapons. But, Jane's Sentinel notes, such an attack against Israel with non-conventional weapons would be executed at a "very high price for Syria."
Experts estimate that Syria has the most advanced program in the Arab world for the production of chemical weapons. Since the Lebanon War, Jane's Sentinel notes, the Syrians have seen the development of chemical weapons as a way to obtain a balance with Israel's military strength.
It seems that production takes place at three sites: one near Damascus, the second near Hama, and the third center is near Safira village in the Aleppo area. In 1985, it seems that the Syrians began to manufacture quantities of chemical warheads, including Sarin nerve gas, for use with Scud-B and Scud-C missiles. Apparently, the Syrians have thousands of bombs with nerve gas which were produced to be carried by Sukhoi-22/20, MiG-23 and Sukhoi-24 planes.
In the 1970's, Syria obtained the Soviet plan for type VX chemical warheads, which could be adapted to Scud missiles. If Syria is successful in production, it is liable to have at its disposal a supply of 884mm. warheads, which contain 975 kg. of chemical material.
Syria has a large quantity of ballistic missiles and there have been reports that they are also manufacturing both a Syrian type of Scud-C missiles and M-9 missiles based on the Chinese model, missiles of longer range than the Scud and with a greater degree of precision.
The production of these missiles takes place in underground factories near Aleppo and Hama, and the Syrians are being assisted by Iran, North Korea and China. Experts claim that missiles of longer range will not improve Syria's strength to attack important targets within Israel because the Syrians already have missiles capable of hitting targets in most of Israeli territory, including Dimona. The advantage of long-range missiles is that they [the Syrians] will be able to set them up in regions which are easier to defend.
There are also reports that the Syrians are developing cruise missiles, which will be able to carry conventional and non-conventional warheads.
Experts believe that some of the Syrian Frog-7 missiles are already fitted with chemical warheads.
International experts believe that the Syrians are working to obtain the infrastructure and necessary know-how to produce nuclear weapons, even though the Syrian government insists that purchases are for civilian needs. Jane's Sentinel noted that there is no evidence that the Syrians have made any significant progress in the development of nuclear weapons.
American and Israeli experts maintain that at the two Syrian centers for the development of biological weapons, they are capable of manufacturing bolotin, risin, and anthrax.
The following is a list of Syrian strategic weapons:
TYPE ======================== ================== QUANTITY
SS-21 Maximum range: 120 km. Warhead weight: 480 kg. 36
SS-1 "Scud-B" Maximum range: 300 km. Warhead weight: 985 kg. 200 (estimate)
"Scud-C" Maximum range: 500 km. Warhead weight: 500 kg. 60 (estimate)
M-11 Maximum range: 290 km. Warhead weight: 800 kg. Unknown
M-9 Maximum range: 600 km. Warhead weight: 950 kg. On order
(according
to reports)
The Frog-7 is among other surface-to-surface missiles at the Syrians' disposal.
Date sent: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 10:48:56 +0200 From: IIS News Analysis <analysis@israel-info.gov.il> Subject: opeds: Syria Most Advanced in Chemical Weapons-"Ma'ariv", Aug 8, 1996 To: Multiple recipients of list ISRAEL-MIDEAST <ISRAEL-MIDEAST@PANKOW.INTER.NET.IL> Send reply to: ASK@ISRAEL-INFO.GOV.IL
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Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry - Jerusalem Mail all Queries to ask@israel-info.gov.il URL: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il gopher://israel-info.gov.il =====================================================================Note: The translations of articles from the Hebrew press are prepared by the Government Press Office as a service to foreign journalists in Israel. They express the views of the authors.
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