Posted: August 20, 2008 News From Israel

JERUSALEM – Israeli security officials have confirmed fears in Jerusalem that Russia may spark a Cold War-like military buildup in the Middle East by sending warships and advanced weaponry to foe Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived today on a two-day visit to Moscow, where he reportedly will discuss with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ways to expand military ties with Moscow, whose arms sales to ideast countries, including Syria and Iran, have angered Israel and the United States.

In a widely circulated article, the London Times reported today Russia is expected to propose a revival of its Cold War-era naval bases at the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia on the Mediterranean. Moscow aintained bases in Damascus during the Cold War but Russia's influence in the region weakened after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The London Times information is not new, though. Indeed, the deal was lready sealed five months ago.

On March 9 Syria quietly struck a deal with Russia that allows Moscow to station submarines and war boats off Tartus and Latakia. In exchange, Russia is supplying Syria with weaponry at lower costs, with some of the issiles and rockets being financed by Iran.

"Russia's involvement and strategic positioning is almost like a return to its Cold War stance," a Jordanian security official said at the time.

According to informed security sources there are already Russian naval troops and missile crews operating in Syria. The officials said that Russia began installing in Syria its S-300 surface-to-air missile efense shield, which is similar to the U.S.-funded, Israeli-engineered Arrow anti-missile system currently deployed in Israel. The S-300 system s being run not by Syria but by Russian naval technicians who work from Syria's ports, security officials said.

Israeli security officials believe Assad's trip to Moscow was not to ink any deals but to make public already existing arrangements for military cooperation between the two countries in an effort by Russia to publicly nhance its militant posture.

Still, the security officials said that in Moscow Assad likely will grant Russia permission to deepen its military buildup on its territory with additional naval fleets and more troops at Russian naval bases lready in existence in exchange for the sale to Syria of aircraft, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. The officials said they did not xpect more Russian submarines off the coast of Syria.

Syria is particularly interested in Russia's BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft and other advanced weaponry.

Already Russia provided Syria with new ballistic missiles and rockets including Alexander rockets and a massive quantity of various Scud surface-to-surface missiles, including Scud B and Scud D missiles.

Israeli security officials noted Syria test-fired two Scud D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile est was coordinated with Iran and Russia and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had.

Israeli security officials are concerned that as in the Cold War days, the Middle East could serve as a theater of conflict, or at least military buildup, between Russia and the U.S.

Assad today told Russia's Kommersant newspaper that Russia's conflict with Georgia, in which Moscow says Georgia was trained by Israelis and utilized Israeli weapons and technology, underscored the importance for ussia and Syria to tighten their defense cooperation.

"I think that in Russia and in the world everyone is now aware of Israel’s role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis. And if before in Russia there were people who thought these forces can be riendly then now I think no one thinks that way,” he said.

"Of course military and technical cooperation is the main issue. Weapons purchases are very important," said Assad. "I think we should speed it up. Moreover, the West and Israel continue to put pressure on Russia."

A spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said Israel does not supply arms to other countries but that private Israeli firms conduct equipment sales and training with the Israeli Defense Ministry's approval.

Assad went on to compare his isolated country to Russia, stating, "Georgia began the crisis and the West accuses Russia. Syria suffered the same thing; attempts to destabilize the country, distortion of the acts and double standards."

Israel and Syria last May announced they were holding indirect talks aimed in part at an Israeli evacuation of most of the Golan Heights, which looks down on Israeli population centers and was twice used by amascus to mount ground invasions into the Jewish state. But those talks have been progressing at a very slow pace.

Israel repeatedly has warned Russia against supplying Syria and Iran with military equipment. Israeli officials accuse Damascus of passing on missiles and rockets to the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization.

The seemingly closer ties between Syria and Russia comes as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart today inked a deal to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, prompting Russia to warn of  possible attack against the former Soviet ally.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on its website that Moscow would react to the U.S.-Polish anti-missile deal "not only through diplomatic protests."

A Russian general even warned in an interview Moscow could target Poland.

Rice said the Russian response to the deal with Poland "borders on the bizarre" but she denied Washington wanted a confrontation with Moscow.

"I hope that there are not people in Russia who are hankering for the days of U.S.-Soviet confrontation because they are over," Rice told journalists in Warsaw.

Still, in an interview with CNN she did issue an unusually harsh warning against Soviet designs for Poland:

"They (Russia) must know that the United States would never permit an attack on the territory of an ally under Article 5. When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988. It's 2008 and the United tates has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise o throw these threats around."

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