TEL AVIV -- Syria is building up its army and has developed
capabilities meant to stop an Israeli counterattack on the Golan Heights,
military sources said.
Military commanders said the buildup includes significant improvements
in training, upgrades and the introduction of electronic warfare and
anti-tank equipment. They said the buildup began in late 1997 and continues
to show progress.
Israel's military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Malka said Syria
under President Hafez Assad has in some cases caught up or even exceeded
Israel in some areas of military prowess. He would not elaborate.
"If Assad asks his chief of staff tomorrow morning what is the army's
combat readiness level, he will get an answer that the army is much more
prepared than it was when he received it from the previous chief of staff
two years ago," Malka told a seminar at Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center
for Strategic Studies on Monday.
Military sources said Syria appears to have developed anti-tank
capabilities that can jeopardize an Israeli armor offensive on the Golan
Heights. The sources said Syria has acquired hundreds of Cornet missile
launchers from Russia that can strike Israeli tanks before their systems can
detect the threat.
The sources said the Syrians have acquired other Russian missiles that
also out-perform their Israeli counterparts.
Another area which Syria has developed is electronic countermeasures,
the sources said. They said the goal is to jam Israeli communications, radar
as well as fool Israeli tanks and planes regarding Syrian targets.
The result, the sources said, is that Syria could still launch a limited
offensive on the Golan as well as slow down an Israeli counterattack. The
assessment is in contrast to that by the Jaffee Center last month which
dismissed any Syrian military option.
"The Syrian army is not in the best shape," Malka said. "Army-to-army
the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] stands out qualitatively over the Syrian
Army and if war broke out between them the IDF would be victorious. But to
jump to the extreme conclusion with significant ramifications that Syria
doesn't have any military option and that its army is collapsing is too far
reaching and dangerous."
