JERUSALEM, July 9 (UPI) -- The budget for supplying Israeli citizens with gas masks has been cut even as the possibility of war with Syria escalates, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday.
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday made cuts to the defense budget, including $26 million to renew citizens' gas masks as tension heightens in the Golan Heights, the newspaper said.
That means fewer than 50 percent of the population will get masks renewed by the end of the year.
"This situation could be interpreted as neglect," a defense official told the Post. "If war breaks out and non-conventional weapons are used, then we could find ourselves in a major crisis."
If war were to break out this year, Israel would have enough new gas masks for 1.5 million adults and 500,000 children, the report said.
The Global Security Web site said Syria's arsenal includes large amounts of sarin and mustard gas.
