Syria pushes WMD-free Mideast

Syria was listed last year with Cuba and Libya on a second tier of "axis of evil" countries pursuing WMD programs. The Damascus regime has never officially confirmed that it has WMD, although US officials claim it has dozens of ballistic missiles filled with Sarin and VX nerve agents. It also is suspected of having manufactured small amounts of biological agents.

Analysts believe that Syria's decision to acquire chemical weapons, which reportedly began in 1973, is based on achieving a strategic deterrence against Israel's nuclear capabilities.

"The whole reason for its [the WMD program's] existence is Israel," says a European diplomat in Damascus. "If Israel was to disarm then I am sure that Syria would follow suit."

But Syria will not make the first move, the diplomat adds.

Arab states have long called for removing WMD from the region. Egypt mounted an unsuccessful diplomatic effort several years ago to force Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Both Syria and Egypt were quick to renew the call following Libya's decision to abandon its WMD programs.

Israel "should be obliged to withdraw from all occupied Arab lands and return to the 1967 [Mideast war] borders and to remove its arsenal of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons," Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said in a speech last week following talks with his Egyptian counterpart Atef Obeid.

Despite significant strategic changes in the Mideast over the past 12 months with the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Israel argues that the region is still far from stable. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned of Libya's nuclear weapons program over a year ago. More recently, Israeli officials have claimed that Iran's nuclear ambitions represent an "existential threat" to the Jewish state. That has fueled speculation that Israel may seek to emulate its 1981 air raid against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor with an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

But in a deal brokered by the European Union, on Dec. 18 Iran signed the additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, allowing snap inspections of its nuclear facilities. The move will make it harder for Iran to embark on a clandestine nuclear weapons program. Sunday, UN inspectors visited weapons-related sites in Libya, with full-scale inspections to come.

Although the WMD threat from Iran and Libya has declined, Israel is likely to brush off continued pressure to abolish its nuclear arsenal, says analyst Mr. Young. "The call for a WMD-free Mideast is very embryonic," he says. "The pressure [on Israel] will come with a regional peace settlement and a multilateral process, but this is a long-term issue."

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