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Syria Eyes an Edge amid Russia-U.S. Rift

[Christian Science Monitor] Nicholas Blanford - The growing rift between Russia and the U.S. over Georgia promises to be a golden opportunity for Damascus as it seeks a weapons deal with Moscow that would give it greater leverage in tentative peace talks with Israel and bolster its standing in the Middle East. Syria was one of the few countries to voice support for Moscow's actions in the Caucasus as the West was busy condemning the invasion. "Syria saw a lot of opportunity in what happened in Georgia and South Ossetia to advance its own interests in the [region]," says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst. The Soviet Union was once Syria's main weapons supplier, leaving Damascus saddled with a $13.4 billion arms-sales debt at the end of the cold war in 1990. In 2005, Russia wrote off almost three quarters of the debt, launching a new era of improved cooperation and fresh arms deals. The ease with which Israeli jets penetrated Syrian airspace a year ago to bomb a suspected nuclear facility in northeast Syria underlined to Damascus the need for an improved air defense system.
2008-08-28 01:00:00
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