By Stan Goodenough
With the assistance of its ally Iran, Syria has developed a new, more precisely-guided surface-to-surface missile with an improved ability to hit strategic Israeli targets.
This was the top story Friday on the website of the Israeli daily Ha'aretz - a leftist publication that normally plays down Arab aggression and insists that the countries surrounding Israel are interested in making peace with the Jewish state.
According to the report, senior Israeli ministers were recently appraised of this latest threat to their nation's security, which comprises an upgraded Iranian ZelZal missile with a 250 km range and able to carry exceptionally large payloads.
Israeli installations likely to be targeted with the rocket include airports, ports and factories.
The news comes at a time "when Israeli defense sources have expressed growing concern at the rearmament program of the Syrian armed forces, which is mostly being supplied by arms transfers from Russia,' Ha'aretz said.
It listed some of the recently-acquired weaponry, such as an anti-aircraft missile system that fires up to 12 missiles at a time, and anti-tank missiles allegedly able to stop Israel's most advanced main battle tank, the Merkava Mark IV, in its tracks.
After describing these threats, the paper hastened to cite Mossad chief Meir Dagen who, it said, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that "at this stage the Syrian defense acquisitions appear to be defensive and that there are no indications that Damascus has any plans to initiate a military action against Israel."
Syria - Israel's most implacable Arab foe - is known to have produced non-conventional warheads, including VX Gas, which can be carried to Israel on its SCUD missiles.
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