If Iraq launched another missile attack on Israel, there is no question that Israel would retaliate, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, the Israel Defense Force chief of staff, indicated in interviews published Sunday.
Israel would not be bound by the restraints it voluntarily assumed during the Persian Gulf War to help the United States hold together a coalition that included several Arab states, Barak made clear in interviews with Ma’ariv and Yediot Achronot.
He estimated that Iraq still has hundreds of surface-to-surface missiles. But Israel has the capability to operate against them at their source, he said.
“I hope Saddam Hussein fully understands the difference between the current situation and that of the time of the Gulf war,” the chief of staff said.
The question arose in connection with the possibility that Iraq might strike Israel again if the United States were to use military means to force Baghdad to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
Barak said the U.N. inspectors’ exposure of Iraq’s advances only confirms that Iraq must be stripped of every capability for making nuclear weapons and prevented from renewing its efforts in the foreseeable future.
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