Is Syria Preparing for Anything?

Israeli newspaper wrote, Syria had aimed missiles at Israel

The intrigue around Syria is gathering steam again. Several days ago, the prime minister and the foreign minister of this country harshly criticized the USA's and Israel's policy in the Middle East. The two Syrian officials called upon the countries of the region to unite in the face of the danger on the part of the two states. It did not take long for the reaction to follow.

The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz published an article, in which it was said that Syria had aimed 100 ballistic missiles at Israel. The missiles, the newspaper wrote, were equipped with VX paralytic gas in their warheads. This is the way Syria is going to strive for parity with nuclear arms-possessing Israel.

The Ha'aretz referred to a rather respectable source - Jane's Foreign Affairs. As it is well known, this company deals with research in the defense field. According to its data, which were published three years ago, Syria possessed dozens of Scud missiles of the Russian and North Korean production. The missiles are outdated, but they are capable of carrying chemical warheads anyway.

It seems curious that Damascus officially rejects the possession of the weapons of mass destruction. However, Israel does not hurry to let the whole world know, how many nukes it has, or it if has any at all. Chemical missiles are not the most important thing. In the article, the Ha'aretz paid a lot of attention to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his team. American officials believe, Assad is unable to fully control his advisors' actions, who allegedly ordered to aim missiles at Israel. On the base of this, the American administration believes, Syria is incapable of preventing Hizbollah and other terrorist groups in the south of Lebanon from conducting their subversive activities. Therefore, Bashar al-Assad is unable to keep promises to stop supporting terrorist groups.

One may suppose two contradictory things on the base of all affirmations about the Syrian president: either the USA is ready to deal with Assad and assist him in the opposition with so-called advisors, or the Syrian president will experience Yasser Arafat's fate, which is also likely to happen. Since Assad can not (or does not want) establish law and order in his own milieu, since he can not put an end to Syria's patronage over Hizbollah, there is absolutely no point to deal with him. This means that one has to find other people for that. It is hard to find them, although one can find anyone anywhere, if there is a wish for it. It is not known, though, if the USA and Israel have such a wish, and what they might do in this respect.