The State Department acknowledged today that Saudi Arabia may use the vast quantities of military equipment it has purchase in the United States in regional military operations without violating the terms of the U.S. Military Sales Act.
Department spokesman Robert Funseth said, in reply to a question by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, that the military “exercises” just conducted by a Saudian brigade in Syria which employed American F-5 jets based at a Jordanian airfield, was proper under the terms of the Act and of the Saudian-American mutual defense agreement signed 24 years ago.
Funseth said that under the Military Sales Act, the recipient of American equipment can use it for internal security, “legitimate self-defense” and to “participate in regional or collective arrangements or measures consistent with the United Nations Charter.”
Asked whether American equipment supplied the Saudian brigade in Syria was used by the Saudis alone or by Syrian forces as well, Funseth said he understood that the maneuvers have been completed and that about 15 F-5 jets in Saudian hands were used in “the annual training cycle” of the brigade which has been stationed in Syria since the Yom Kippur War.
NO CONFIRMATION OF SOVIET MIGS
Funseth said the aircraft were staged “through” Jordan with planes landing and taking off in Jordan. He did not know what airfield in Jordan was used and said Israel was not advised of the use of U.S. planes by the Saudis in Syria.
He added, “To the best of our knowledge, the maneuver was entirely Saudi” and did “not constitute a violation of the end use of the restriction imposed by U.S. law under the Military Sales Act,” Jordan and Syria have established a unified command and the use of a Jordanian base for Saudian planes maneuvering in Syria was viewed by observers here as a form of psychological warfare against Israel by the combined Saudian-Syrian-Jordanian forces.
Funseth said he had no confirmation of reports attributed to U.S. intelligence sources that he Soviet Union has sent a squadron of advanced MIG-25 jets to Syria. He said, however, that it is “well-known Syria has received sophisticated equipment” from the Soviet Union. According to the report, the MIG-25 squadron is piloted by Russians.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
