Israel acknowledges Scud D success

TEL AVIV — Israel has acknowledged that Syria has overcome a major hurdle in its missile program.

Israeli officials said they were taken by surprise by the success of the first launch of the Scud D missile. The missile has a range of up to 700 kilometers.

"This clearly widens the coverage of the Syrian missiles to all parts of Israel and this is not a positive development," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said. "We are following this and are ready for all possibilities."

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the Arrow missile defense system's Green Pine radar detected the Syrian launch. Military sources said this was the first missile launch detected by the radar and demonstrated its effectiveness in providing real-time alert of intermediate-range missiles.

"Because of the Arrow and the radar of the Arrow, we succeeded in tracking the test," Mofaz said.

Syria is said to have up to 1,000 missiles and 26 launchers. About 400 missiles are believed to consist of Scud Bs and Cs.

Mofaz would not confirm whether Libya has received intermediate-range missiles from North Korea. But Israeli military sources said Libya is obtaining such missiles, which they identified as the No-Dong.

Israeli officials said the next effort of the Syrians would be to tip the Scud C and D missiles with biological and chemical weapons. They said that so far the Syrians have failed in this effort.

"These long-range missiles constitute a very serious threat, especially if they are equipped with non-conventional warheads," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said.