By Shmuel Rosner and Yoav Stern, 
Tags: nuclear, Condoleezza Rice  
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on Thursday that "Syria is most certainly an issue in proliferation."
Responding to reporters' questions, Rice spoke at length about the talks between the U.S. and North Korea, which also addressed the issue of North Korea's relations with Syria. The U.S. is demanding that North Korea reveal all past activity relating to nuclear proliferation, including its ties to Syria. These came to light following September's airstrike in Syria, which foreign reports have attributed to Israel.
Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported on Thursday that Syrian technical teams are in Russia to take delivery of an advanced antiaircraft missile system, the Pantsyr-S1. This is part of a large Syrian-Russian deal, paid for by Iran, to supply new missile defense systems to the Syrian army.  
As part of the conclusions the Syrian army drew from the Second Lebanon War, Damascus decided to procure cutting-edge surface-to-surface missiles and antiaircraft missiles. To that end, major deals were signed with Russia, some of which are being funded by Iran.
Some of the Persian Gulf states also requested similar systems. Russia failed to meet delivery schedules, but is continuing to train Syrian teams to operate them.
Israeli defense officials believe Russia is using the threat of these arms deals for leverage in its diplomatic battle with the U.S. over the deployment of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe.  
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