Western intelligence sources indicate that the new Soviet airlift to Syria includes the sophisticated ground-to-air missiles of the SAM-3 type which were installed earlier in the Suez Canal zone and to guard other vulnerable targets in Egypt, it was reported here today. Israeli sources said the airlift to Syria was one way Moscow has of indicating to Egypt that Russia has other friends in the Arab world.
The sources added that the Russians were accompanying their airlift with warnings to Syria of an imminent Israeli attack. The Syrians have reacted by intensifying their anti-aircraft defense. But they are pulling back terrorist units from the Golan Heights border to avoid provocative incidents, Israeli sources said.
(In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Bray said today that the increased equipment and arms to Syria “obviously could increase tension in the area. That would not be a welcome development.” He added that to “the best of our knowledge” the US does not have details of the contents of the Soviet arms shipment. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird said yesterday on NBC-TV “Meet the Press” that he was watching the Soviet airlift “very closely.” While he declined to predict or analyze publicly the implications of the airlift, Laird said he was “concerned,” and expressed hope that the “major powers involved, particularly the Soviet Union, would use caution in the Middle East at this time.”)
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