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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 4, 1984
PAGE 11
toward improved contacts between Baghdad and Washington. Local
newspapers have prominently carried commentaries by the Soviet
news agency Tass eriticizing the American position as hypo
eritical because the United states used napalm and phosphorus
bombs in the Vietnam war.
The Israelis, for their part, are understandably concerned over the vast
quantities of high-grade Soviet arms pouring into the Middle East, specifi
cally into arch rival Syria. In the April 24 issue of NEWSVIEW (published
in Britain, with a Middle East focus) correspondent Costas Andreou reports:
In 1982 Israel shot down more than 80 Syrian MIG fighters over
Lebanon, at a cost of one damaged plane. It also took out 19 SAM-
6 missile batteries in the Beka'a and a fair crop of Syrian
tanks. Nearly half the MIGs were much vaunted MIG-23s.•.•
An 80-0 score in any air battle is a pretty devastating verdict
for one of the combatants.... The Soviets had no option but to up
the stakes in the confrontation with Israel and more than replace
what Syria had lost.•.. The Syrians lost approximately �
billion dollars worth of egui
I?
ment and it was replaced _QY two
billion dollars worth. SAM-6s 1n the Beka'a were replaced by the
more formidable SAM-5s placed inside Syria.
They are now
situated on sites from which even Syrians are excluded. The new
missiles are manned
BY
5,000 Soviet soldiers and technicians and
another 3,000 so-called "advisors.".•.
What the weapons do for Syria is to effectively increase its
circle of action in defense and attack. In an interview with an
Arab magazine, Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas claimed the
Negev was in range of his country's missiles. If so, the Syrian
missile umbrella can now hit important northern and Negev air
fields. A surprise attack on these sites could tear holes into
Israel's vital air-supremacy plans. Israel Air Force Commander
General Amos Lapidot said last year that Israeli forces trained
as if the enemy� the Soviet Union and not the Arabs. Con
sidering the significant intensification of Soviet training pro
grams in Syria, it is probably a wise philosophy.
At the moment, tensions are rising between the Israelis and Syrians who are
holding three Israeli officials captive in Lebanon on charges of "spying."
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau