NICOSIA — The Republic of Cyprus has ended a three-week deadlock and released a shipment of surface-to-air missile radar systems to Syria.
Officials said the Nicosia government decided to allow a Panamanian-flagged ship to resume its journey and deliver North Korean air defense systems to Syria. The North Korean shipment was intercepted on Sept. 5 following an alert by Interpol.
The ship, the Gregorio-1, began its journey in North Korea and continued through China and Egypt, bound for Syria's port at Latakia. It carried truck-mounted radar systems that were not listed on the ship's manifest, officials said.
Instead, the manifest listed meteorological equipment.
Cyprus is part of NATO's Operation Active Endeavor, which seeks to track and seize suspected weapons of mass destruction shipments in the Mediterranean Sea. NATO denied any connection to the Gregorio-1 episode.
"The Syrians did what we asked them and then the ship was released," an official said. "There was a discrepancy on the ship's manifest, but the contents were not illegal."
Officials said the episode was resolved in talks with Damascus over the past two weeks. During a Sept. 15 visit, they said, a Syrian delegation applied for and received an export permit for the unidentified SAMs.
Nicosia, which maintains close relations with Damascus, could not legally hold the SAM systems as well as pipe that was first suspected of comprising missile components. They said the United Nations has not banned Syria from weapons imports. The ship had stopped for refueling in Cyprus when it was inspected and seized.
