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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Russia, which is helping Iran build nuclear plants, now wants to
add Syria to its list of investments in atomic energy while the
US enlists support for the idea of making Middle East free of
nuclear weapons. Israel is the only country in the region that
is thought to have nuclear weapon capability, but Syria is
suspected of having tried to build a nuclear warhead.
U.S.
President Barack Obama last week renewed sanctions against
Syria, which has been trying to gain access to mass destruction
weapons.
The
United States recently confirmed Israeli estimates that Syria
has helped arm Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon with tens of
thousands of missiles. The U.S. government defines Syria as a
country that sponsors terror, and a nuclear power plant would
give it access to enriched uranium, a key ingredient for a
nuclear weapon.
"Cooperation on atomic energy could get a second wind," Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said at a press conference with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. He echoed Iran’s claim
that all countries should be able to build nuclear power plants
for peaceful purposes.
Russia and China, both of which have an economic investment in
Iran’s nuclear plants, have blocked American proposals that the
United Nations Security Council pass harsh sanctions against
Tehran because of its lack of cooperation on allowing United
Nations nuclear inspectors to examine its facilities.
During Medvedev’s visit, Assad called on the Russian president
to help keep nuclear weapons out of the Middle East, meaning
Israel. The impression of a presence of nuclear weapons in
Israel, which has not confirmed or denied its capability, gives
the Jewish State a measure of deterrence as the Arab world
continue to stockpile more advanced weapons.
The
upgrading of ties between Russia and Syria could lead to a
declining influence of the United States in the region as Syria
pursues its aim of forcing Israel to surrender the strategic
Golan Heights, restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
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