Israel Sends Hawkish Security Chief to Moscow to Discuss Syria Chemical Weapons

Urges Russia to 'Take Steps' to Prevent Loss of Weapons

With Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom making public Israeli considerations to attack Syria over questions about the security of their chemical weapons only yesterday, Israel is now deploying National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror to Moscow for talks with the Russian government.

Amidror, an extremely hawkish retired general affiliated with Jewish Home, is scheduled to meet with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and other top officials, reportedly to press them to “take steps” to prevent the transfer of weapons out of the control of the Assad government.

Israel is said to be concerned both about deliberate transfers from Assad to Hezbollah, and the possibility of al-Qaeda linked Syrian rebel factions seizing the weapons outright, with rumors in the Israeli press of fighting around sites suspected of housing some of the arms.

According to Shalom, a meeting of Israeli security chiefs, held secretly last week, decided that Israel would attack Syria at the first sign of any movement of any of their chemical weapons.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.