TEL AVIV, June 2 - Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, Israeli military officials revealed Thursday.
These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the Israelis said, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles, and two Scud D's, the Israelis say they believe, with a range of about 435 miles.
Little was especially startling about the tests, Israeli officials said, except the embarrassment to Turkey - a member of NATO - and the timing, during the Lebanese elections.
| The timing isn't startling at all. |
The Israeli military officials said they interpreted the launchings as a gesture of defiance to the United States and the United Nations by the Syrian president, Bashir al-Assad, who has been pushed in a humiliating fashion to remove Syrian troops from Lebanon since the assassination of the anti-Syrian politician, Rafik Hariri. "This is really putting your fingers in the eyes of the Americans, saying, 'I'm not dancing to your flute,' " a senior Israeli military official said. "The tests are probably needed for the missile project, but this is Bashir taking a risk here and sending a message."
| Snort. As if GWB worries about a Scud launch. |
Israeli officials, who are familiar with the intelligence but asked that their names or departments not be identified, decided to publicize the tests in part because they were puzzled by the American silence about them, and because Israel sees them as part of a troubling pattern of behavior by Mr. Assad. The Israeli officials say they are disturbed by Mr. Assad's recent actions, including the missile tests and the killing of an anti-Syrian journalist, Samir Kassir, in a car bombing on Thursday outside his home in Beirut. Mr. Kassir openly blamed Syria for the death of Mr. Hariri.
Israeli officials say Syria continues to have intelligence agents in Lebanon, even though all uniformed military personnel have left. The officials say Syria continues to support terrorism in Iraq as well as sponsoring Islamic Jihad, which has been trying to smuggle suicide bombers into Israel, including a cell that intended to blow up two buses in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Syria also played host to a May 22 meeting of Farouk Kaddoumi, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, with the leaders of all the militant Palestinian factions and publicized the meeting, the senior Israeli official said. "Kaddoumi wants to derail Abu Mazen," the common name for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has called for an end to violence against Israeli civilians, the senior official said. "The message from Syria to the Palestinians is not to stop shooting," he said.
Syria is doing all this, he added, "when everyone is trying to tell Syria to stop being out of step in the region, and U.S. messages to Assad are clear."
| If he doesn't get it we could make sure he gets it. |
All the missiles were launched from northern Syria, near Minakh, north of Aleppo, the Israeli officials said. One was sent about 250 miles to southernmost Syria, near the Jordanian border. The one that broke up was fired southwest toward the Mediterranean, over the Turkish province of Hatay, the ancient Antioch, and shed debris over two villages there. The Israelis said they had film of the launching and breakup.
| Deliberately fired over the Turks, eh? |
In Washington, the Turkish ambassador, Osman Faruk Logoglu, said there were no casualties in the incident on May 27. The Syrian ambassador was asked to explain and "said that during a military exercise, there was a technical mishap," Mr. Logoglu said, "and that the Syrian government was sorry about this."
But the Israelis noted that the test was the first time Syria had fired a missile over another country - a member of NATO - when Damascus could easily have moved its mobile launchers to the center of the country to avoid flight over Turkey altogether.
| As it is, now the Turks are on notice that the Syrians have a bunch of cheesy, inaccurate missiles that don't hold together during flight. |
The Israelis also noted that Mr. Assad planned to convene a national conference of his Baath Party on Monday, and might have wanted to send a signal of defiance and technological prowess to his domestic audience as well. |