http://www.worldtribune.com/two.html Assad seek major arms deal in first Moscow visit in 9 years Special to World Tribune.com MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE Monday, April 5, 1999 LONDON [MENL] -- Syrian President Hafez Assad plans to visit Moscow later this month as part of an effort by Damascus to complete a huge arms purchase deal with Russia. Officials in Moscow said Assad will arrive in Moscow on April 13 and will meet with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. The focus of the discussions, they said, will be bilateral relations and the Middle East peace process. The visit will be Assad's first in nine years. The Syrian president did not visit Moscow since the end of the Cold War. Diplomatic sources said Assad and his Russian hosts will try to resolve the $11 billion Syrian debt to Moscow. Syria has refused to acknowledge the debt and Russian exports to Damascus has not renewed in nearly a decade. The sources said Russia has been considering a proposal to forgive 85 percent of the debt. The rest of the debt will be covered by Syrian exports. The London-based Arabic language daily Al Hayat said on Sunday that Syria appears on the verge of succeeding in raising $1 billion from Iran and Gulf Arab states to buy advanced armaments from Russia. The newspaper said the arms negotiations are stuck over Assad's insistence of long-term payment schedule for the weapons. Russian officials have insisted that any new arms deal with Syria be based on a cash basis. Russia has vowed to continue defense cooperation with Syria despite a U.S. decision to impose sanctions on three Russian firms charged with selling anti-tank missiles to Syria. The companies were identified as Tula Design Bureau, the Volsk Mechanical Plant and the Central Research Institute for Machine-Tool Engineering. "The charges are groundless," Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said. The Itar-Tass news agency quoted a senior Defense Ministry official as saying that Russia would continue to fulfill defense contracts with Damascus. Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, head of the Defense Ministry's department of international cooperation, said the U.S. decision to impose sanctions is "part of the U.S. political authoritarian policy aimed at ensuring U.S. supremacy in any part of the world." State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters on Friday that U.S. law, under specific circumstances, bans the transfer of military equipment to any state deemed as a sponsor of terrorism. Syria remains on the State Department list of terrorist states. The sanctions, Rubin said, will also ban U.S. government procurement from the Russian companies and exports of U.S. munitions to the firms. The sanctions will remain in effect for one year. Rubin said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has waved sanctions against the Russian government. He said such sanctions on the government would have affected $90 million in U.S. assistance. "The Secretary makes these decisions," Rubin said. "This is a decision you make based on a variety of circumstances." Monday, April 5, 1999 ================== http://www.worldtribune.com/index-three-text.html After initially backing NATO strikes, Iran now sides with Russia Special to World Tribune.com MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE Monday, April 5, 1999 An Iranian daily said on Sunday that the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia has only served President Slobodan Milosevic's aims of tightening his control over the Kosovo province. "It looks as if all that NATO has accomplished to date in bombing Kosovo has been to speed up Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's timetable for depopulating that unfortunate province," the English-language Iran Daily said. The skepticism by the newspaper echoes that expressed by Iranian officials over the last few days. Analysts said that after initial support Iran has restrained its advocacy of the NATO campaign as part of efforts to remain in line with the opposition of Russia. Iran and Russia are improving ties in issues of military and foreign affairs. "Considering that the operation was mounted to keep the Kosovars in place and insure a greater measure of security, the worlds' most formidable military alliance must now adopt new measures," Iran Daily said. "Sadly, it appears that the Kosovars themselves, plus impoverished Albania and Macdonia will be footing most of the bill." "There is, of course a bit of amazement that the NATO game plan has been as shortsighted as events are revealing it to be," the newspaper said. "What was supposed to be a sharp reining in of Milosevic appears to be a creeping destabilization of the entire Balkans." The daily said NATO will continue the air campaign against Yugoslavia over the next few weeks and might target Milosevic himself. "NATO will have to consider putting troops on the ground to reverse the refugee tide and be prepared for those troops to remain in occupation of Kosovo for long months to come," the newspaper said. "No one seems to have given this probability the least consideration when planning the attack." Iran Daily said in the end the issue of Kosovo autonomy might be shelved. "Perhaps, we will witness the leveling of Yugoslavia so that the much vaunted alliance can hold its reputation," the newspaper said. Monday, April 5, 1999 ========= http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/04/05/timfgnkos01023.html?1058210 Patrols over Iraq are scaled back FROM DAMIAN WHITWORTH IN WASHINGTON BRITISH and US patrols of the skies over Iraq have been scaled back because of the need to send more planes to Kosovo, according to reports. The Pentagon confirmed last night that a number of EA-6B Prowlers, based at Incirlik, Turkey, and monitoring the northern no-fly zone over Iraq, have been redeployed to Aviano, Italy, to participate in raids on Yugoslavia. The Prowlers provide a crucial protective umbrella to fighter aircraft by jamming enemy radar. There has not been a strike on anti-aircraft artillery in the northern no-fly zone since March 16. In previous weeks there were almost daily engagements. Associated Press reported last night that British and American fighters had not flown in the skies above Iraq since March 20, four days before Nato launched its Yugoslavia airstrikes. The Pentagon declined to say when patrols last took place in the northern no-fly zone. A Ministry of Defence official in London said it was "business as usual" in the area.
