American intelligence officials believe that the Soviet Union has deployed SAM-5 ground-to-air missiles in Syria, thus lending support to Israeli government officials who earlier this month claimed that missile sites had been prepared in Syria.
According to the U.S. officials, the sites are located near Damascus and Homs, north of Lebanon. This would put most of Israel’s air space within Syrian range, they added, noting that the missiles have a range of about 200 miles. The officials said that the SAM-5s, although fully effective for a shorter range, would nevertheless pose a new threat to Israel.
Both Israeli officials earlier, and U.S. intelligence officials yesterday pointed out that this is the first time that the SAM-5, the Soviet Union’s principal air defense missile, had been deployed outside the USSR and the Warsaw Pact nations. The U.S. officials said there had been two sea shipments of SAM-5 cannisters to Syria last week and there was no reason to believe that they did not contain SAM-5s.
These missiles replace the 30-mile-range SAM-6s which the Syrians deployed in the Bekaa valley, east of Beirut, and which Israeli armed forces knocked out during their invasion of Lebanon last year.
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