Israel has information that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction to be sent to Syria for hiding, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last night. Sharon added that the Americans were also examining this intelligence information, which he said had yet to be verified.
Also yesterday, Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that an American assault on Iraq is unlikely before February.
In an interview with Channel Two presenter Nissim Mishal on his current events program, Sharon said that Iraq and the Palestinian Authority are coordinating their positions in advance of an American attack. A senior Fatah official, Zakariya Al Ara recently visited Iraq for the purposes of "coordination," according to the prime minister. He emphasized the danger of Iraq's use of Palestinian terrorism against Israel, noting - as Ha'aretz reported in September - that Israel has already arrested one Palestinian cell trained in Iraq, by Iraqi intelligence, in how to use shoulder-launched Strella missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons with the intent to attack civilian aircraft at Ben-Gurion Airport.
While public attention has been focused on reports of possible missile launches by Iraq against Israel, the defense establishment has lately been discussing the use of non-conventional terror by Iraq. The IDF believes Israel's preparations for a missile attack - or even a "suicide pilot" in a conventional aircraft - is relatively good. But lone terrorists, acting on their own from inside the territories or in Israel, are much harder to defend against.
Security sources note that Iraq has invested enormous effort and funds - including tens of millions of dollars paid to the families of suicide bombers and others killed in armed clashes with Israeli forces - to nurture terrorist cells in the territories, particularly by the Arab Liberation Front and the Palestinian Liberation Front, two organizations affiliated with Baghdad.
The defense establishment discussions have revolved around the possibility of Iraq deploying sleeper cells from these two groups, that would attempt to spread lethal germs in Israel. Unlike missiles or planes trying to infiltrate Israeli airspace, such walking bombs are almost impossible to detect.
Intelligence sources say that since 9/11, taboos about using weapons of mass destruction have been broken for terror groups interested in mass casualties. Israel knows that certain terrorist groups are interested in acquiring biological and chemical weapons.
Another danger worrying the defense establishment is the possibility of Iraq or an international Islamic terror group such as Al-Qaeda, might try to use the American war on Iraq to attack Israeli and Jewish targets overseas, which are much less protected than targets inside Israel.
On the other hand, the IDF is now convinced that its air defense systems against both missiles and conventional aircraft is relatively good. Former IAF commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Eitan Ben Eliahu said this week the IAF has "good answers" for a "suicide pilot" scenario. He said that except for a 1989 incursion by a Syrian MiG, the air force has prevented every unauthorized attempt to enter Israeli air space over the past decade.
In the Channel Two interview, Sharon also said that the IDF had presented him with its military plans in case Israel decides to attack Iraq. "We are ready for [an Iraqi] attack. If Israel is attacked, it will know how to defend its citizens," he said.
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon has been in discussions with the Turkish defense establishment. At least some of those discussions have been about the Iraq situation. Ya'alon's visit to Turkey yesterday was planned long ago.
The sudden spate of headlines about the dangers posed by Iraq sent some 50,000 people to army stations yesterday to get new gas masks. On Monday, 33,000 had lined up for the same purpose. The stations will remain open on Fridays to handle the rising demand
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