WASHINGTON Ñ The Palestinian Authority has acquired anti-aircraft
missiles, a report says.
Hizbullah is believed to have supplied the anti-aircraft missiles to the
PA. Hizbullah has acknowledged its huge missile arsenal along the
Israeli border as part of what Lebanese sources term an
unprecedented buildup.
The report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the PA
has Soviet-era missiles. They include the SA-4 and SA-7.
"Palestinians already have SA-7s and Strella missiles," the report,
authored by Gal Luft, said. "It would not be technically difficult to shoot
down a civilian airliner with several hundred people on board. The threat of
an airplane being shot down from the ground is just as dangerous as that of
a terrorist boarding a plane, and it is a threat shared by Israel and the
United States."
Nabil Qauk, Hizbullah's commander in southern Lebanon, said the missiles
serve as a deterrence against the Israeli government led by Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon. Lebanese sources said Hizbullah has been testing unidentified
weapons along the border in preparation for war with Israel.
"Sharon cannot do what he pleases in Lebanon because Lebanon is not the
appropriate arena for Israeli terrorist actions and because it has missiles
on the border that limit SharonÕs aggression," Nabil Qauk, Hizbullah's
commander in southern Lebanon, said during a recent tour by Iran's
ambassador to Beirut, Mohammed Sobhani.
