MOSCOW Ñ Russia has told its Arab allies in a series of meetings that they will not be
immune to any U.S. military campaign against Iraq.
Arab diplomatic sources said Moscow has warned several
countries including Iran and Syria that they could be included in any U.S. war in
the Middle East. The message was blunt: Washington will not limit its military
campaign to Iraq and seeks to topple Middle East regimes deemed as terrorist
sponsors, the sources said.
Russian Foreign Ministry officials have met with their counterparts in
several Arab countries and discussed scenarios of any U.S. drive against
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Middle East Newsline reported.. The sources said the scenarios included U.S.
attack aircraft and ships launching lightning raids on suspected terrorist
hideouts in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Damascus and the Afghan-Iranian border.
Russian parliamentarians have also conducted meetings with Arab diplomats in Moscow. The members of
the Duma were said to have cited intelligence reports that President George Bush has ordered
his intelligence agencies to topple Saddam in a new doctrine that allows for
preemptive strikes on rogue states believed to produce weapons of mass
destruction.
"These warnings have been relayed not
only to such countries as Iran and Syria, but also to pro-U.S. regimes such
as
Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," a diplomatic source said.
Russia expects the United States to lose no more than 20 aircraft in any
regional campaign against Iraq, Iran and Syria, the sources said.
Another scenario is that U.S., British and Turkish forces would destroy
Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr and Shihab-3 missile facilities. The
Shihab-3 has a range of 1,300 kilometers and has alarmed Israel. The allied
campaign on Iran would be limited to air strikes, according to the Russian scenario.
Moscow has also gone public with its warnings to the Arab world.
Konstantin Kosatschov, deputy chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs
Committee, said Britain and the United States are not merely interested in
Saddam's demise.
"The aim of Britain and the United States is to control the Persian Gulf
and Iraqi oil," Kosatschov told the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai Al Aaam.
The sources said Turkey has also been warned by Russia against helping
Washington. They said Turkey has been told that any war against Iraq would
lead to a Kurdish state in northern Iraq and new unrest in southeastern
Turkey, where many Kurds live.
But other countries, such as Iran and Syria, have been told that
Washington might recruit Ankara into any anti-Saddam coalition by allowing
Turkey to capture northern Iraq to ensure that no Kurdish state is formed.
