June 3, 2005 :: New York Times :: News
On June 1, Israeli Channel 2 television reported that Syria tested three Scud missiles on May 27. Israel’s Green Pine Radar, integrated into its own Arrow ballistic missile defense system, detected the launches from the testing site in eastern Syria. A later report, however, claims they were launched from northern Syria, near Minakh, near Aleppo. One missile flew some 250 miles to southernmost Syria, near the border with Jordan.
Update: The August 2005 issue of Jane’s Missiles & Rockets report that Israeli security sources said all three “were fired from mobile launchers near Minakh, north of Aleppo in northern Syria.”
The New York Times picked up the story today, adding that, Israel allegedly chose to report the story only after the United States chose not to do so. The Times cites Israeli sources saying that the missiles launched were one older Scud B with a range of 185 miles and two Scud D missiles, with a range of 435 miles. Israeli military officials are quoted as speculating that the tests are an act of defiance by Syrian President Assad to the United States. The tests are the first missile launches by Syria since 2001.
Update: However, Jane’s also reports that “[a]n Arab military source said the Syrians were careful to aim the missiles away from the southeastern part of the country because U.S. and Iraqi forces were attacking insurgents in al Qaim province close to Iraq’s border with Turkey.”
In addition, one missile was fired southwest toward the Mediterranean, over the Turkish province of Hatay and shed debris over two Turkish villages there. Israelis claim to have film of both the launching and breakup. It is the first time Syria has ever launched a missile over another country, and Turkey is of course also a member of NATO.
Israeli officials are also cited as observing that Syria could easily have directed the missile in a different direction, to land within its own territory. The tests came days before a scheduled election in newly unoccupied Lebanon.
Russia’s Itar Tass quotes an unidentified “Russian expert in the field of missile technology” as saying that the missile tests were of political rather than military significance. The source added a bit of background on the number and type of the Soviet-origin missiles:
“The missiles of this type, which were developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, are in the arsenals of at least 25 countries of the world. In a number of countries, including Syria, work has been carried out to modernize the missiles. In particular, the Syrian army is equipped with modernized Scud-D missiles, with a range of 700 km. According to various estimates, Damascus could have 300 to 400 such missiles,” the expert explained. He recalled that the production of missiles of this type has been developed in North Korea on the basis of Soviet-made R-300 operational-tactical missiles.
At a White House press conference, Scott McClellan today fielded a question about the test:
Q Scott, on Syria, do you believe that it was just an accident that those scud missiles were fired? That’s apparently what the Turkish foreign minister was reassured by the Syrians, that it was just an accident. What do you think?
MR. McCLELLAN: We’re aware of the missiles that were launched, and I think I’ll just leave it at that.
Q Do you think it was just an accident?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think I’ll just leave it at that. I don’t think we have anything further to add to it.
(Article)» June 3, 2005: White House press conference
» June 3, 2005: Itar Tass report on Syrian launches
» June 1, 2005: Original report of Syrian launches by Israeli television
» June 3, 2005: AP account of missile launches
» More stories on: Syria, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: Sakr, Ababil-100/150
