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Russia promises Israel not to sell missiles to Syria

By: Ahmad Hammadi

HELD JERUSALEM: The daily Haaretz reported in its Monday editions that President of Russia Vladimir Putin has made a promise to Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon by phone that he won't sign a contract to sell SA-18 surface-to-air missiles to Syria.

The reported promise, said to have been made by Putin on Thursday, came on the day that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad begins a four-day official visit to Russia.

According to the newspaper Sharon had explained to the Russian leader that the arms, also called Igla missiles, risked falling into the hands of Syrian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, who are violently opposed to Israel.

His office had said in a statement on Thursday that the Putin-Sharon phone call had centred on the situation in the Middle East, the unilateral Israeli plan of disengagement from the Gaza Strip, relations with Syria and Hezbollah "and their implications for terrorism" and the recent election of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

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