JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Israeli officials say they are worried about Russian advanced cruise missiles being in Syrian hands.
"Israel views (the arms sale) with great concern," a senior Israeli defense official told the daily Haaretz Sunday. "The weapons will eventually be turned against Israel."
The arms deal was announced by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov Friday, 10 days after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Moscow and asked the Russian government to halt it.
The arms deal signed between Moscow and Damascus in 2007 involves the sale of advanced P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles to the Syrian army as well as other weaponry, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.
If the deal goes through, Israeli officials said Jerusalem would consider selling weapons to "areas of strategic importance" to Russia, such as Georgia, the Hebrew daily said.
In August 2008, after fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Israel's Foreign Ministry recommended suspending the sale of all weapons and defense-related equipment to Georgia, Haaretz said at the time.
Israel has maintained close relations with Georgia, partly because there is a large Georgian Jewish community in Israel.
In the past decade, Israeli military industries have supplied Georgia with some $200 million worth of equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets, night-vision equipment, different kinds of electronic systems and training by former senior Israeli officers.
The advanced missiles in the hands of the Syrians, pose a direct threat to Israeli Navy boats patrolling in the Mediterranean Sea and off Lebanon's coast as they fall within the186.4 mile distance range of the missiles, the newspaper said.
The situation poses a greater threat if the missiles reach Hezbollah's hands, the paper said.
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, four Israeli sailors were killed when Hezbollah hit the Israel Navy missile boat Hanit with a Chinese-made surface-to-sea missile that had been sold to Iran and was transferred to Hezbollah.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Serdyukov saying the missile sales to Syria had been raised during talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and that "undoubtedly, the Russian side of the contract would be fulfilled."
