CIAO DATE: 07/02

Syria and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Middle East is the scene of an ongoing process of proliferation. Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, and Syria all have significant capabilities to deliver weapons of mass destruction Israel, and Syria has made considerable progress in acquiring weapons of mass destruction since the mid-1970s. ₁ Syria has never shown a serious interest in nuclear weapons, although it did seek to buy two small research reactors from the PRC in 1992, including a 24-megawatt reactor, and purchased a small 30-kilowatt research reactor from the PRC in 1991. It allowed inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in February 1992. ₂ Syria does, however, deploy sheltered missiles, armed with chemical warheads, as a means of both countering Israel's nuclear forces and maintaining its rivalry with Iraq. As the attached article Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Mustafa Tlas shows, Syria has a major interest in biological warfare, and the fact his article first appeared in public in an Iranian journal may not entirely be a coincidence.

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Endnotes

Note 1: This section draws extensively on interviews in the US, Britain France, Switzerland and Israel, and Anthony H. Cordesman "Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East," Washington, CSIS, March 7, 1999, internet edition; Anthony H. Cordesman, Perilous Prospects, Boulder, Westview, 1996, pp. 230-2671; the "Syria" sections of the 1996, 1997, and 1998 editions of Office of the Secretary of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, Washington, Department of Defense, and the "Syria" sections of Rodney W. Jones, Mark G. McDonough, Toby F. Dalton, and Gregory D. Koblenz, Tracking Nuclear Proliferation, Washington, Carnegie Endowment, 1998.Back

Note 2: Michael Eisenstadt, "Syria's Strategic Weapons," Jane's Intelligence Review, April, 1993, pp. 168-171; Agence French Presse, computer print out, February 10, 1992; Christian Science Monitor, March 10, 1992, p. 1; Washington Post, December 7, 1991, p. A-26, February 11, 1992, p. A-16; Daily Telegraph, November 23, 1991, p.Back