Israel Matzav

Surprise: Syria's building a chemical weapons plant

The respected British defense weekly Jane's is reporting that Syria, with whom President Hopenchange is looking to renew relations, is building a chemical weapons plant.

Satellite images from several commercial sources gathered from 2005 to 2008 have shed light on activity at the chemical weapons facility identified as Al Safir in northwest Syria. Imagery obtained by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite indicates that the site contains not only a number of the defining features of a chemical weapons facility, but that significant levels of construction have taken place at the facility's production plant and adjacent missile base [see image of a newly constructed possible missile loading building at the adjacent missile support facility at top left. CiJ].

JPost adds:

Al-Safir is home to a chemical weapons production facility and a missile base that holds a significant part of Syria's long-range Scud D ballistic missiles, according to foreign reports. The Scud D has a range of 700 kilometers and al-Safir is reported to have several dozen underground fortified bunkers where the launchers and the missiles are stored.

If the name al-Safir rings a bell, it should. It's very close to where Israel took out Syria's nuclear weapons development in September 2007.

UPDATE 6:01 PM

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) today that he wants to develop relations with the United States:

Assad's talks with Sen. Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, focused on developing bilateral relations "through serious and positive dialogue based on mutual respect and joint interest in finding just solutions to the region's problems," Syria's official news agency reported.

His visit comes after US President Barack Obama offered to engage countries that had been at odds with the US. He is to be followed by two more congressional delegations to Damascus this week, including one headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry.

The Syrian news agency said talks also dealt with Middle East developments and "what could be done to boost peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, in addition to the need to combat terrorism."

I wonder if any of these Senators will have the you-know-what's to ask Assad why he's developing chemical weapons if he's interested in making peace. Don't bet on it.

By the way, Israel Radio just reported that Cardin heads a 'group' that came to call on Assad, so there may be other Senators there too. I hope the ladies are wearing their hijabs.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:02 AM