Mossad chief warns NATO of nuclear threat from Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Syria
Israel's foreign intelligence
chief has warned against the nuclear capabilities of Iran,
Iraq, Libya and Syria at a meeting with top NATO officials,
the Haaretz daily reported on Thursday.
Mossad chief Efraim Halevy
also told a closed-door meeting of the alliance's North
Atlantic Council in Brussels on Wednesday that "Islamic
terror is a threat to alliance members", the newspaper
said.
Halvey charged that Iran was "investing heavily
in developing long-range missiles" with a range of
more than 3,000 kilometres "which could reach Europe
and in the future, even North America, Haaretz said.
In a hard-hitting speech fingering every country on Israel's
blacklist, he told his audience Iran was developing "weapon-grade
nuclear capabilities", and "large quantities
of VX" nerve gas.
On Iraq, Halevy said he also had "partial evidence
that they have renewed their production of VX and possibly
anthrax", the newspaper reported.
Halevy said Israel was also keeping a close eye on Syria
"following (its) acquisition and subsequent production
of North Korean type Scud B, C and D missiles," the
daily said.
"The Syrians also have B and C capabilities with
relevance to surface-to-surface missiles" Halevy
said, adding that most of the warheads were conventional.
But Syria, he maintained, has also produced Sarin nerve
gas agents and is examining the production of VX, the
report added.
Halevy also urged the NATO officials to monitor Libya
closely, charging that it is "developing long-range
missiles with North Korean support."
Turning to the wave of Palestinian suicide attacks at
home which has prompted Israel to launch a new offensive
in the West Bank last week, Halevy said these attacks
have become a "quasi-legitimate form of combat".
Suicide bombings are "encouraged and abetted at
the leadership level in the Palestinian camp," Haaretz
quoted him as saying.
He also charged that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority
had weaved closer ties with such countries as Iran, Iraq
and Syria which he said support terrorism.
Halevy accused Arafat of placing "the theme of the
suicide bomber at the top of his priorities" and
said that reforms promised by the embattled Palestinian
leader were nothing but mere "swift window dressing
moves".
Jerusalem,
June 27, 2002 (AFP)
