Word: syria
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...Over the past few months, U.S. and Israeli officials allege, Damascus has expanded and accelerated its customary deliveries of weapons to Hizballah, the Iran-backed Shi'ite militia in neighboring Lebanon. Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of ratcheting up the stakes by sending midrange Scud missiles to Hizballah. The significance of the Scud is more symbolic than strategic. Though they have a longer range than any of the smaller rockets already in Hizballah's ample arsenal - and that would allow the group to theoretically target any location in Israel - the larger Scuds can be easily tracked...
...Scud specter threatens to sink the Obama Administration's attempts to woo Syria away from its strategic alliance with Iran and militant groups such as Hizballah and Hamas. Until recently, Syria seemed to be one of the few areas in the Middle East where Washington's diplomatic overtures appeared to be paying off. U.S. military officials in Baghdad have cited improved Syrian efforts at controlling the flow of jihadists over the Syrian border into Iraq as contributing to the reduction of violence there since 2007. More recently, American diplomats acknowledged that Syria has been playing a more constructive role...
...Syria's escalation of weapons deliveries probably represents frustration in Damascus that the U.S. hasn't brought Israel to the negotiating table, according to Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy. Israel's right-wing Likud Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly vowed that he won't give up the Golan, which he says Israel needs for military reasons, and has proposed that instead of trading "land for peace" - the basic formula for the Middle East peace process, as prescribed by successive U.S. Administrations and by U.N. resolutions - that Syria should simply accept "peace...
...arms sales to Israel are thus beneficial for both nations; weapons export is one of the very few industries in which the U.S. maintains a positive trade balance. These arms sales to Israel are also necessary for supporting the balance of power in the region, as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt, and other nations in the area vastly outspend Israel on the imports of advanced American and Russian weaponry...
...nations at least) The NPR says the U.S. would not threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states - as long as they are not seen to be developing nuclear weapons. This is both a carrot and a stick for countries with suspected weapons aspirations such as Iran and Syria, as well as those with confirmed nuclear programs, like North Korea. The carrot? A guarantee of security if they fall in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The stick? The possibility, however remote, of nuclear war if they don't. In an interview before the NPR's release...