Expert Doubts Libya Gave Nerve Gas to Iranians, Syrians
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TEL AVIV — An Israeli strategic expert said Sunday that Israel has known that Iran and Syria were trying to obtain the capacity to wage long-range chemical war, but he cast doubt on a British press report that Libya has given them nerve-gas warheads.
“In general, we know that they have been trying to get this capability,” said Zev Eitan, military affairs expert at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, quoting senior Western intelligence sources, reported that Libya provided nerve-gas warheads for Soviet-supplied missiles in Iran and Syria. It said British intelligence experts traced the warheads also to the Soviet Union.
“Maybe the Libyans got something from the Soviets that the Syrians did not get, and I’m not definitely convinced this information is correct,” Eitan said on state radio.
The Jaffee Center’s annual report on the Middle East military balance has for the last two years listed Syria as possessing stockpiles of nerve gas.
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