19/09/2010 Israeli officials are threatening to sell weapons to "areas of strategic importance" to Russia after Moscow announced over the weekend that it would go through with the sale of P800 missiles to Syria, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. Russia's announcement came after both Israel and the US implored that it abandon the sale. The cruise missiles discussed, dubbed Yakhont, have a range of 300 km, which puts Israeli ships off of Lebanon's coast at risk of being hit by missiles fired from Syria's southern port.
On Saturday, an Israeli defense source also said that the defense establishment was greatly concerned about Russia's plans to go ahead with the sale of advanced arms to Syria. "Israel views [arms sale] with great concern," the senior defense official said. "The weapons will eventually be turned against Israel."
The original deal was signed between Russia and Syria in 2007, but last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and requested that he call it off, for fear the missiles will be handed to Hezbollah.
More recently Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Moscow on a similar mission. Barak spoke with both Putin and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. During the visit, the statesmen signed agreements of confidentiality aimed at paving the way for the sale of Israeli drones to Russia.
Despite the extensive efforts, the deal was announced Friday to be proceeding as planned. "They've gone one step too far," one Tel Aviv official said. "This is not in keeping with our cooperation with them."
The official said Israel had so far refrained from selling "strategic, tie-breaking weapons" to third-world countries, and that it expected Russia to do the same.
"The supply of advanced weapons to Syria, one of Hezbollah's two main supporters, especially on the eve of the fateful peace talks with the Palestinians, is not a move encouraging the moderate forces of the Middle East – but rather a prize for extremist states," the source said.
AFP quoted a senior government official as saying, "This decision reflects a poor sense of responsibility shown by a country which wants to influence and claims to act in favor of the stability of the region."
The P800 is considered one of the world's most advanced cruising missiles due to its speed and low flight. Israel fears it will fall into the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon, which would put its ships in the Mediterranean at risk.
"The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont. But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists," Russia's defense minister said after announcing the deal would proceed.
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