Rabin Warns Syria Not to Think of Using Chemical Warfare Against Israel

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Tuesday that Israel has information that Syria possesses chemical weapons more potent than those used by Iraq in its war with Iran. He warned Damascus not even to contemplate chemical warfare against Israel because it knew full well what the consequences would be. He did not elaborate.

Addressing Jerusalem high school students, Rabin said the Israel Defense Force has taken measures to protect soldiers and civilians against poison gas attacks. He said four million gas masks are in stock at central warehouses and that a practice drill indicated they could be distributed swiftly throughout the country.

Gas masks and chemical resistant clothing and equipment would be distributed if and when the government thought the situation warranted it, Rabin said.

ASSAD URGES MUBARAK TO CUT TIES WITH ISRAEL

Meanwhile, Syria’s President Hafez Assad reportedly called on Egypt to sever its relations with Israel, contending that a country cannot be Arab and at the same time “be with Israel,” according to media reports from Kuwait Tuesday.

Assad and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt are attending the meeting of the 46-member organization of the Islamic Conference in Kuwait. Mubarak made no response, the reports said.

Assad was reported to have warned that relations between Israel and “certain other Arabs” must be ended. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, followed by the establishment of full diplomatic relations.

Assad also denounced the United States and claimed that American Middle East policy was dictated by Israel and implemented by Washington.