Baker Says Balance of Power in Middle East Has Tipped

The recent Soviet sale of 10 to 15 Sukhoi-24 D bombers to Libya has altered the military balance in the Middle East, Secretary of State James Baker said Tuesday.

He added that he has “no reason to disagree” with the argument that the sale of the planes, with a 1,610-mile radius, threatens Israel.

Baker was replying to questions asked by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Baker said the sale “says that when (the Soviets) talk about wanting to be involved in the Middle East peace process, they are doing a good job of talking but not in supporting that talk with their deeds.

“If they really wanted to be helpful in the Middle East, they would not be so supportive of radical regimes like Libya generally,” he said.

Baker said the United States would also welcome Soviet restoration of full diplomatic relations with Israel, as well as the use of its influence with Syria to end the violence in Lebanon as well as activities of radical Palestine Liberation Organization factions based in Syria.

The situation in Lebanon is “very, very intractable,” Baker said, but he called the Arab-Israeli conflict the most intractable foreign policy dispute.

On Monday, the State Department singled out Syria when it called for an end to the “indiscriminate shelling” in Beirut. Baker said this was only the second time that the United States has criticized Syria as the chief foreign force instigating violence in Lebanon.

At the hearings, Helms ordered aides to distribute pictures of the Sukhoi-24 D bombers to committee members and reporters.

He also arranged to have large posters displayed of the plane, a Middle East regional map with a circle denoting the plane’s radius and the alleged Libyan poison gas plant.