International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Dec. 30, 2002

Syria strongly denied claims by Israel over Christmas that Iraq may be transferring chemical and biological weapons to Syria, saying the accusation aims to divert attention from Israel's defensive arsenal.

In an interview with Channel Two television on Monday (23rd), Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke of the possibility that Saddam Hussein had smuggled chemical and biological weapons to Syria in order to hide them from United Nations weapons inspectors.

Further news reports indicated that equipment moved from Iraq to Syria in recent weeks could be earmarked for the Hizb'Allah terror militia in southern Lebanon, possibly in an attempt to open up a northern front against Israel in the event of an American offensive on Baghdad. The shipments contained Iraqi rockets with a range of 100 to 150 kilometers, and possibly also various items that Iraq wanted to hide in Lebanon.

"This accusation against Syria is ridiculous, because Syria signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and called all Arab states to make the Middle East clear of weapons of mass destruction, whether nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons," a spokesman for Syria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement released Wednesday (25th). "The only side that still stands against this call is Israel."

Hizb'Allah has received rockets from Syria before, some of them believed to have originated in Iran, as part of the ongoing policy of war-by-proxy adopted by hostile Islamic States against Israel since the failed conquest of 1973. While Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told an increasingly concerned public to not "lose any sleep" over the Iraqi threat, security sources have long indicated that the battery of some 200 Hizb'Allah missiles on the northern border is a cause for serious concern.

Israeli officials said Sharon was careful in underlining that Israel is looking to confirm these reports. But, he said, considering Iraq's track record of hiding planes in Iran in 1991, and considering Syria's economic interest in Iraq as a result of the pipeline through Syria for illicit Iraqi oil, such a move is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Syria is also known to have been in the market for Scud missiles on behalf of Iraq like those seized off the Yemen coast two weeks ago. Despite Yemen's assurances to the US that the missiles were for their own use, there is little doubt in the region that Iraq was the intended recipient, and Israel the ultimate target.