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American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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MIDEAST ALLIES GEAR UP FOR GULF WAR II American allies in the Middle East are continuing to prepare for possible U.S. military action against Iraq. Speaking to journalists in Kuwait City, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah made clear that his country is bracing for the fallout from a possible retaliatory military strike from Saddam Hussein’s regime. Yet, according to Al Sabah, the Kuwaiti government is “ready to face any threat” and has “the capacity to deter any missile attack directed against us.” Among its preparations, Kuwait has established an early warning system designed to detect nuclear, biological and chemical weapons use, and has deployed batteries of the U.S.-made Patriot theater missile defense system near air bases and other vital locations, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper (September 28) reports. Israel, meanwhile, has assumed a more active role in planning for an American offensive against Baghdad. Citing the Jane’s Foreign Report intelligence brief, the September 28th issue of Ha’aretz reports that Israeli special forces have begun operating within Iraq, where they are identifying the location of Baghdad’s missile units. According to Jane’s, the Israeli government has dispatched the elite Sayeret Matkal special operations team to detect “early preparations” on the part of Iraq to use its arsenal of Scud-class ballistic missiles. Furthermore, according to a report by Israel Radio (September 29), the Israeli military has also already utilized its recently-launched Ofek 5 spy satellite to map out the areas within Iraq capable of being used for launching ballistic missiles against Israel. ISRAEL FACES MOUNTING NORTHERN THREAT The terrorist group Hezbollah is posing a growing threat to Israeli security, the New York Times (September 27) reports. Over the last year, the radical Lebanese Shi’ite militia has amassed thousands of short-range rockets provided to the group by Iran and transported via Syria. These deliveries, which include some 8,000 to 9,000 12 kilometer range “Katyusha” rockets, as well as several hundred of the longer range, Iranian made “Fajr-3” and “Fajr-5” missiles, have transformed southern Lebanon into a “powder keg,” according to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz. Analysts are now worried that the Islamist organization could use its expanding missile capabilities to provoke a war with Israel along that country’s northern front. A NEW ROLE FOR TURKEY? Middle East Newsline (September 27) reports that Washington has offered Ankara a leading role in its prospective NATO missile defense umbrella. Under the proposal, first aired in Turkey this summer and subsequently discussed with Alliance member nations in recent weeks, the Turkish government would assume a central role in efforts to develop early-warning systems for the Europe-wide architecture. The planned missile shield is intended to protect countries in Europe from ballistic missile threats from the Middle East or South Asia. LEADERSHIP OF MTCR CHANGES HANDS Canada has handed over leadership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) to Poland, Warsaw’s official PAP news agency (September 25) reports. According to Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Poland’s assumption of the chairmanship of the informal 27-country grouping, which is designed to restrict exports of missile and WMD technology, comes at a time of “added significance” and “widespread apprehensions” about rising proliferation of chemical and biological weapons and their possible use in terrorism. As a result, the Polish diplomat revealed, Warsaw is planning a gathering of police, intelligence and special forces contingents from MTCR member nations in coming months to address the illegal trafficking of missile- and WMD-related technologies. CHINA PREPARES FOR FURTHER MISSILE TESTS The PRC is gearing up to test its new “Dong Feng-31” ICBM, write Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times (September 27). Citing U.S. intelligence officials, they report that an American spy satellite has detected heightened activity at the Wuzhai missile base in central China. The truck-mounted long-range missile, which has an estimated range of 5,000 kilometers, is currently under heavy development by Beijing following an unsuccessful flight test back in January. |
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