Syrian Scud Missiles Transfer to Hezbollah Remains Israeli Hypothesis

Syrian Scud Missiles Transfer to Hezbollah Remains Israeli Hypothesis

24/04/2010 A day after two US officials said there were "no indications" any Scud rockets were transported into Lebanon, a US diplomat said Syria is providing a “wider array” of missiles to Hezbollah.

"We are concerned with the broadening nature of cooperation between Syria and Hezbollah. They are providing a wider array of missiles to Hezbollah," a senior State Department official said on Friday, according to AFP news agency, on condition of anonymity.
"As to the narrower question of do we have evidence of Scuds crossing into Lebanon, that's something... to watch carefully."

However, on Thursday, two US officials said there were "no indications" any Scud rockets were transported into Lebanon.
"We don't think Scuds, of any shape or size, have been moved to Lebanon," AFP quoted the official as saying.

"The Syrians aren't always known for making the right political calculations. But in this case, surely they realize that transferring this kind of weapons system to Hezbollah – and especially to Hezbollah in Lebanon – could lead to serious consequences," the official added.

The assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman said Wednesday the United States would have "really, really serious concerns" if Syria had delivered such high-grade weapons to Hezbollah.
"If these reports turn out to be true, we're going to have to review the full range of tools that are available for us in order to make Syria reverse what would be an incendiary, provocative action," Feltman said.

On Monday, the most senior Syrian diplomat in Washington, Deputy Chief of Mission Zouheir Jabbour, was summoned to the State Department to review what the United States called "Syria's provocative behavior concerning the potential transfer of arms to Hezbollah."

The alleged transfer from Syria involved Scuds believed to have a range of more than 435 miles (700 km), which would put occupied Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear reactor sites in Dimona and near Tel Aviv in range, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Scud-type missiles, originally designed and produced by the Soviets, are usually about 11 meters long and have a range of roughly 300 kilometers, though some versions can strike beyond 500 kilometers.

US officials voiced confidence that Scuds crossing the Syrian-Lebanese border would be detected, because the large rockets cannot be readily broken down into small parts for transport, the officials said.

AFP noted that a US defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said that smuggling missiles and mobile launchers into Lebanon without US or Israeli intelligence agencies noticing would be “possible, but difficult.”

However, analysts said that missiles and mobile launcher could be taken apart to avoid detection.
"All you have to do is separate the tail from the missile, which is something you can do easily. And then move it to some other vehicle," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

But Damascus denied the alleged transfer to Hezbollah. On Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said that "it was regrettable that the United States had accepted Israel's accusations against Damascus as true."

Did Syria Supply Hezbollah with Scud missiles or not remains the throwing puzzle which both Israel and the US administration have been confused by for more than a week.

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