Region | Syria
Syria missile plan denied
Russia threatens to retaliate after us and poland seal agreement in Warsaw.
- By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor
- Published: 23:43 August 20, 2008
Informed sources in Syria on Wednesday rejected a report about Damascus's readiness to deploy missile defence systems on its territory. They said Syria has never discussed its armament programmes publicly and would not do it at this time.
The comments came after Russian news agency Novosti quoted Syrian President Bashar Al Assad as saying that Syria is ready to discuss deploying the Iskander missile systems on its territory, but it has not received any proposals from Russia. Bashar's statement came in an interview before he began his two-day visit to Russia that concludes today.
"Our position is that we are ready to cooperate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security ... I think Russia really has to think of the response when it finds itself encircled," Bashar said. But sources in Damascus said Syria has a number of armament requests from Russia, but would not debate them in public.
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