Egypt tried to ease the pressure the US put on Syria and Lebanon, reports Doaa El-Bey Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit denied allegations that Syria was providing the Lebanese-based resistance group Hizbullah with Russian Scud missiles. Speaking to reporters during an official visit to Lebanon that lasted for a few hours on Saturday, Abul-Gheit described the allegations as "laughable lies. Egypt stands by Lebanon under all conditions and in the face of all threats." The aim of Abul-Gheit's visit was to meet Lebanese officials and express support for Lebanon and Syria. Damascus, Beirut and Hizbullah have rejected the Israeli claims. Standing by the allegation, however, Washington and Tel Aviv have issued not so veiled warnings to Syria. Lebanese army commander Jean Kahwaji said there were no Scud missiles in Lebanon, adding that Scuds were far less mobile than Katyusha rockets and much less likely to pass across the border undetected. "The process of transporting them is not a game; it's a very big operation. The rockets are 30 metres long, are carried on large vehicles, and need 40 minutes to prepare for launching," Kahwaji was quoted as saying. "I'm convinced there are no Scuds in Lebanon and talk about the issue is political." Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri denied the allegations, comparing them to the false American charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ahead of the 2003 US-led invasion. The US never found WMDs in Iraq. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallim said it was regrettable that the US had accepted Israel's accusations against Damascus as true. The allegations were first reported in the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper two weeks ago. The newspaper said Syria had transported Scud ballistic missiles to Hizbullah. Washington stopped short of accusing Damascus of supplying Scuds to the Lebanese group, but said Syria is providing a "wider array" of missiles to Hizbullah. Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, said last week the US would have "really, really serious concerns" if Syria had delivered such high-grade weapons to Hizbullah. "If these reports turn out to be true, we're going to have to review the full range of tools that are available for us in order to make Syria reverse what would be an incendiary, provocative action," Feltman said. A former diplomat who preferred not to be named told Al-Ahram Weekly that helped by these allegations, the US wanted first to appease Israel at the expense of Lebanon and Syria and pave the way for a proposal to the UN Security Council to issue a resolution on the deployment of UN forces along the Syrian-Lebanese border. The diplomat regarded the fact that Israel issued a warning that it would consider attacking both Syrian and Lebanese targets in response to a Scud attack on its territory as further proof of his argument. Tel Aviv warned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that if Hizbullah launched an attack on Israel using the missiles, Israel would engage Syria in a war. The diplomat added that the allegations could also have an impact on the relationship between Lebanon and Syria. Although the two states denied the allegations, it is likely that Beirut still feels threatened by Damascus. Syria had a long military presence in Lebanon but withdrew its last troops in 2005 after the assassination of pro- Western Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri, which has been widely blamed on Syria. The third purpose that the allegations would serve, according to the diplomat, is to engage Lebanon in a fight against the possible deployment of international forces along its border with Syria. And Lebanon is too engaged in internal conflicts to be ready to think about external conflicts at present, he added. The Scud allegations came as the US tried to improve relations with Syria. In February, Obama appointed the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years, Robert Ford, in the hope of gradually improving ties between the two states. The Senate still must confirm Ford. Relations between Damascus and Washington deteriorated after the 2005 assassination of Al-Hariri in a Beirut car bombing. Relations were already strained amid US allegations that Syria was not doing enough to prevent the flow of arms and recruits to the anti-US insurgency in neighbouring Iraq. The Scud allegations would support the view of those who are against any US-Syrian rapprochement on the pretext that Al-Assad has good relations with both Iran and Hizbullah and meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. And now, Damascus is accused of providing Hizbullah with Scud missiles, a claim that further supports the argument of those who call for imposing sanctions against Syria.
