Israel angry at Russian plan to sell Syria missiles

[Pk_Thunder]

Israel angry at Russian plan to sell Syria missiles​

Tuesday, 21 Sep, 2010


JERUSALEM: Israel criticised Russia on Monday for planning to sell anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, saying the advanced weapons could be transferred to Hezbollah guerrillas in neighbouring Lebanon.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Israel’s visiting defence minister in Washington that he shared Israeli concerns “about proliferation of advanced weapons that could destabilise the region,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said.

The go-ahead for the $300 million Yakhont missile deal was made public last week by Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who told news agency RIA that it dated back to a 2007 contract and had also met objections from the United States.

The announcement raised hackles in Israel, whose defence minister, Ehud Barak, travelled to Moscow this month to seal a military cooperation pact and urge the Russians not to supply Syria with arms that could challenge Israel's might.

Visiting Washington on Monday, Barak voiced concern during meetings with White House officials that the Yakhont missiles could “be passed to Hezbollah, as has happened in the past, and be turned against Israel,” his office said in a statement.

Gates, who met Barak at the Pentagon, also raised the issue of weapons sales broadly with Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov during their meetings in Washington last week, Morrell said.

The United States understood that Russia had a right to sell weapons, but “we wish for them to take into account the strategic ramifications of sales,” Morrell said, describing Gates’ message to Serdyukov.

Syria denies arming Hezbollah, which also enjoys Iranian backing. Hezbollah surprised Israel by hitting one of its naval vessels with a cruise missile during the 2006 Lebanon war.

Israel and Syria have exchanged peace overtures in recent years but remain divided over core demands regarding the future of the occupied Golan Heights and the Damascus-Tehran alliance.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Israel Hayom newspaper: “This (Yakhont sale) complicates the situation. It does not contribute to stability and it does not create peace in the region. We will convey to Russia our position.”

State-run RIA on Friday quoted Serdyukov as saying the United States feared the Yakhonts could end up in the hands of “terrorists” an apparent reference to Hezbollah.
Serdyukov called such concerns “fruitless,” RIA said.

Lieberman said that Barak, on his Moscow visit, had “dealt with the (Yakhont) issue, but things didn't work out.”

Russia, which is building up a fleet of Israeli-made drones, earlier pleased Israel by promising not to deliver S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran while new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear programme are in place. – Rueters

 

[ejaz007]

Russia Vows to Sell Missiles to Syria
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 26 Feb 2011 11:42

MOSCOW - Russia announced Feb. 26 that it intended to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with cruise missiles despite the turmoil shaking the Arab world and Israel's furious condemnation of the deal.

"The contract is in the implementation stage," news agencies quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying.

Russia initially agreed to send a large shipment of anti-ship Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria in 2007 under the terms of a controversial deal that was only disclosed by Serdyukov in September 2010.

The revelation infuriated Israel and the United States and there had been speculation that Russia would decide to tear up the contract amid the current turmoil plaguing North Africa and the Middle East.

Israel - which is still technically in a state of war with Syria and fears its close ties with Iran - suspects that the shipment is ultimately aimed at supplying Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.

The disputed sale is believed to be worth at least $300 million and is meant to see Syria receive 72 cruise missiles in all.

Russia has not officially confirmed making any Yakhont deliveries to date.

But Interfax cited one unnamed military source as saying that Russia had already sent Syria two Bastion coastal defense systems that can include up to 36 Yakhont missiles each.

The feared systems can only operate when equipped with radar and target detection helicopters and it was not clear from Serdyukov's comments which supplies - if any - had already been received by Syria.

Serdyukov's comments come amid Russian efforts to keep its military supply lines open to the Middle East despite the wave of revolutions and social unrest currently sweeping the region.

A source in the Russian arms exports industry said this week that the fall of the region's regimes may see the country lose about $10 billion dollars in contracts.

Serdyukov himself confirmed that the unrest may force Russia to give up some of its Soviet-era clients in the Arab world.

"There is a chance we might lose something," the defense minister said on a visit on visit to Russia's Pacific port city of Vladivostok.

"But I hope that the main weapons and military equipment agreements will be fulfilled," Serdyukov said.

Russia's sales to Syria have come under particularly close scrutiny because of fears that Moscow may be also covertly assisting Damascus' nascent nuclear program.

The head of the country's arms export corporation in October denied that Russia had also signed an agreement to supply Syria with its latest range of MiG-31 fighter jets.

But the same agency confirmed in May that Russia was in the process of supplying Syria with a less advanced fighter jet version - the Mig-29 - along with short-range air defense systems and various armored vehicles.

Russia is the world's second-largest arms exporter behind the United States and its sales are crucial to the country's efforts to keep alive a creaking defense industry whose reforms have dragged on for years.

The military this week announced with some fanfare the start of a $650 billion rearmament drive that will add eight nuclear submarines and hundreds of warplanes to the under-equipped force by 2020.

Serdyukov said Feb. 26 that Russia intended to arm its nuclear submarines with the high-tech Bulava long-range missiles whose deployment is being delayed by a series of embarrassing test failures.

But Russia's last two Bulava launches were successful and Serdyukov said Feb. 26 that the first new missiles would be dispatched to the country's Pacific Fleet.

Russia Vows to Sell Missiles to Syria - Defense News

 

[iPakMan]

Ohhh Russia... If you didn`t have one of the prettiest women in the world... Anyhow, Russia again tries to Flex its muscles regardless of consequences, chasing a dream of a Super Power status, when we all know China is so much closer...

 

[Tigershark]

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Israel’s visiting defence minister in Washington that he shared Israeli concerns “about proliferation of advanced weapons that could destabilise the region,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said.

HA HA! What hypocritical Double Talk. He's the one selling billions of high-tech arms to Israel that are used to bomb Palestinians. Americans are all “about proliferation of advanced weapons that could destabilise the region”

 

[Tigershark]

Ohhh Russia... If you didn`t have one of the prettiest women in the world... Anyhow, Russia again tries to Flex its muscles regardless of consequences, chasing a dream of a Super Power status, when we all know China is so much closer...

US is pushing NATO right up to Moscow's borders and pushes for ABM installations that makes possible a NATO nuclear first strike against Russia. That Russia is pushing back against Washington and its Israeli satellite is to be expected.

 

[iPakMan]

HA HA! What hypocritical Double Talk. He's the one selling billions of high-tech arms to Israel that are used to bomb Palestinians. Americans are all “about proliferation of advanced weapons that could destabilise the region”

What you won`t be reading in Newspapers with regards to proliferation is that US is OK with Israel having Nukes because we are not ideological psychopaths, They are not OK with Islamic Nations having Nukes because most of them are. Only one Islamic nation has Nukes, and that is obviously Pakistan, but we all know they have eyes for no one other than her bitter rival India which fortunately enough has her own Nukes.
Plus Israel is a Nuclear Power in case of a Third World War, the country that has Israels favor will definitely have a substantial advantage against her enemies.

 

[Tigershark]

What you won`t be reading in Newspapers with regards to proliferation is that US is OK with Israel having Nukes because we are not ideological psychopaths, They are not OK with Islamic Nations having Nukes because most of them are. Only one Islamic nation has Nukes, and that is obviously Pakistan, but we all know they have eyes for no one other than her bitter rival India which fortunately enough has her own Nukes.
Plus Israel is a Nuclear Power in case of a Third World War, the country that has Israels favor will definitely have a substantial advantage against her enemies.

I think most countries think of Zionism--the establishment of an Israeli state in the Palestinian homeland--as a rather disturbing notion. While I wouldn't go as far to call Zionism a psychopathic ideology, it does not strike me as moral or just. I shudder to think Americans occupying Canada (as they have threatened to do in the past) because they are a country of liberty and democracy.

 

[iPakMan]

I think most countries think of Zionism--the establishment of an Israeli state in the Palestinian homeland--as a rather disturbing notion. While I wouldn't go as far to call Zionism a psychopathic ideology, it does not strike me as moral or just. I shudder to think Americans occupying Canada (as they have threatened to do in the past) because they are a country of liberty and democracy.

Well let me educate you a bit. Palestinians NEVER had a homeland They were Jordanians inhabiting the west bank of Transjordan, while there are still Arab "Palestinians" in the East bank of Jordan , did you even bother to learn this subject before spitting out all this ignorance? There is no such thing as Palestinians, Jews had 2 Kingdoms/Countries in this same very spot before Islam even was created, only to be expelled from there whether through the Crusades or the Arab conquests. And even during the Partition they were offered half the Land by the UN while the other Half would go to Jews, and they refused. Tried to take it all multiple times, failed miserably.

 

[ephone]

So it might be the time to consider to be back to the negotiation table and ask both side to stop those provocative activities.

Well let me educate you a bit. Palestinians NEVER had a homeland They were Jordanians inhabiting the west bank of Transjordan, while there are still Arab "Palestinians" in the East bank of Jordan , did you even bother to learn this subject before spitting out all this ignorance? There is no such thing as Palestinians, Jews had 2 Kingdoms/Countries in this same very spot before Islam even was created, only to be expelled from there whether through the Crusades or the Arab conquests. And even during the Partition they were offered half the Land by the UN while the other Half would go to Jews, and they refused. Tried to take it all multiple times, failed miserably.

 

[Abii]

Well let me educate you a bit. Palestinians NEVER had a homeland They were Jordanians inhabiting the west bank of Transjordan, while there are still Arab "Palestinians" in the East bank of Jordan , did you even bother to learn this subject before spitting out all this ignorance? There is no such thing as Palestinians, Jews had 2 Kingdoms/Countries in this same very spot before Islam even was created, only to be expelled from there whether through the Crusades or the Arab conquests. And even during the Partition they were offered half the Land by the UN while the other Half would go to Jews, and they refused. Tried to take it all multiple times, failed miserably.

oh my god, so much bs
You wrote all that based on the term "Palistinians." Who cares what they were called. THERE WERE ARABS LIVING IN THOSE LANDS AND European, American and African Jews, who had NOTHING to do with the Middle East, or Asia for that matter, came and displaced them. What was this based on? The fact that Jews lived there THOUSANDS OF YEAR AGO!!!!! WTF! Iran owned all of West Asia and Turkey in the Achemenid Dynasty and had religious sites all over the region. Do you see any Iranian claiming Israel or Turkey as Iranian lands??
You might be able to fool a Chinese person but I love to see you try and feed this bs to a Middle Easterner like me.
Chosen one my

 

[iPakMan]

oh my god, so much bs
You wrote all that based on the term "Palistinians." Who cares what they were called. THERE WERE ARABS LIVING IN THOSE LANDS AND European, American and African Jews, who had NOTHING to do with the Middle East, or Asia for that matter, came and displaced them. What was this based on? The fact that Jews lived there THOUSANDS OF YEAR AGO!!!!! WTF! Iran owned all of West Asia and Turkey in the Achemenid Dynasty and had religious sites all over the region. Do you see any Iranian claiming Israel or Turkey as Iranian lands??
You might be able to fool a Chinese person but I love to see you try and feed this bs to a Middle Easterner like me.
Chosen one my

I could have an hour long debate with a dog and have a better outcome than talking to Brainwashed people like you my friend.
You hate us, you try to kill us, you fail, we kill you, you go bltch to the UN. Same story every single time. Go to Iran for a year and maybe you`ll be lucky enough to meet an Israeli or two in person.

 

[iPakMan]

So it might be the time to consider to be back to the negotiation table and ask both side to stop those provocative activities.

We tried, they won`t. We want nothing more than to rid ourselves of this burden, trust me.

 

[Abii]

I could have an hour long debate with a dog and have a better outcome than talking to Brainwashed people like you my friend.
You hate us, you try to kill us, you fail, we kill you, you go bltch to the UN. Same story every single time. Go to Iran for a year and maybe you`ll be lucky enough to meet an Israeli or two in person.

"us" "you" "friend" "hate"
LMAO I'm neither an Arab, nor am I trying to kill you, nor am I your friend. I also don't care enough to hate you.

I hate the IRanian regime far far FARRRR more than any Israeli.
I just love owning the chosen ones with their amazing nonsensical arguements.

and lol at the last sentence. I hear the price of houses with bunkers has tripled in Jewtopia, correct?

 

[iPakMan]

"us" "you" "friend" "hate"
LMAO I'm neither an Arab, nor am I trying to kill you, nor am I your friend. I also don't care enough to hate you.

I hate the IRanian regime far far FARRRR more than any Israeli.
I just love owning the chosen ones with their amazing nonsensical arguements.

and lol at the last sentence. I hear the price of houses with bunkers has tripled in Jewtopia, correct?

When i say you, i mean Iranians, because the Arabs as awesome as they are, aren`t our current problem.
Syria, Hamas, Hizbullah are all financed by Iran, and all four need to be dealt with.
How old are you to be talking in such an immature fashion? And with regards to Jewtopia, i prefer the Term President Ahmenijacket uses, "Zionist Regime", and we`re doing fine thank you.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

Ohhh Russia... If you didn`t have one of the prettiest women in the world... Anyhow, Russia again tries to Flex its muscles regardless of consequences, chasing a dream of a Super Power status, when we all know China is so much closer...

It doesn't matter what Russia does. Turkey will eventually supply the Middle East and North Africa with lots and lots of advanced weapons and put an end to western and Zionist hegemony and oppression in the region. There will be genuine peace within a few decades at most, Israel can't continue grabbing more PALESTINIAN LANDS. Even if they do, they will definitely be taken back by force, if necessary. It's only a matter of time.