Lebanese PM says Scuds accusations like Iraq's WMD

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister has denied Israeli allegations that Hezbollah obtained Scud missiles, comparing them to the false American charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ahead of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Saad Hariri appeared to be trying to ease tensions raised by Israeli President Shimon Peres' accusations that Syria supplied the Lebanese militant group with Scuds, which can carry a warhead of up to 1 ton and would be far larger than the biggest rockets previously in Hezbollah's arsenal.

Syria has denied the Israeli allegations and Hezbollah has neither confirmed nor denied them.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department summoned Syria's deputy chief of mission in Washington, Zouheir Jabbour, and accused Damascus of "provocative behavior" in supplying arms to the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah. A State Department statement did not specifically mention the alleged Syrian arms deals but alluded to the transfer to Hezbollah of Scud ballistic missiles.

Hariri compared the charges with U.S. allegations that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, which were the main rationale behind the U.S.-led war in Iraq but turned out to be false.

"The media suddenly started reporting that there are Scud missiles in Lebanon. Do you know what a Scud missile means? I believe it is as big as this room," Hariri said late Monday in Italy. His comments were reported by Lebanese media Tuesday. "Threats that Lebanon now has huge missiles are similar to what they used to say about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," he added. "These are weapons that they did not find and they are still searching for."

"They are trying to repeat the same scenario with Lebanon," the prime minister said."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100420/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_israel

[Scurrilous]

1. No Sign Scuds Moved to Lebanon - U.S. Officials

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"Doubts are growing within the U.S. defence and intelligence community about allegations that long-range Scud missiles from Syria have been shipped to the Hezbollah guerrilla group in neighbouring Lebanon, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Washington believes Syrian was moving towards transferring more sophisticated Scuds to Hezbollah, but U.S. intelligence agencies have not been able to confirm Israeli allegations that the missiles have changed hands, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

While the United States suspects some kind of transfer may have occurred in Syria, two U.S. officials said there were "no indications" any Scud rockets were transported into Lebanon, which would sharply escalate the risk of a conflict.

"We don't think Scuds of any shape or size have been moved to Lebanon," one of the officials said."

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[Jefferson23]

2. "but U.S. intelligence agencies have not been able to confirm Israeli allegations"

What a shock!