Defense officials expressed concern on Sunday that Russia intends to sell missiles and other arms to Syria. The concerns were expressed during a security consultation that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held on Sunday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi, Israel Security Agency (Shabak) head Yuval Diskin and others, ahead of Olmert's trip to Russia on Monday. Missiles sold to Syria could be used directly by Syria against Israel or relayed to Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon.
The defense officials also presented Olmert Israel's information on Russia's intent to sell Iran long-range anti-aircraft missiles. Those missiles could be used against an Israeli attempt to bomb suspected Iranian nuclear weapons sites.
At the same time, the Foreign Ministry held a conference in Jerusalem on policy and strategy in what is seen as the first of annual assessments of Israel's foreign policy. According to the Haaretz daily, the main goal of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Foreign Ministry Director General Aaron Abramovich at the conference was to advance their quest to raise the status of the ministry vis-a-vis Military Intelligence, the Shin Bet security service, the Mossad and the Defense Ministry with regard to making military and foreign policy decisions. Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the idea was to end the military establishment's near monopoly on drafting recommendations for the cabinet and the security cabinet.
One of those in attendance at the conference's opening session was France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner told Haaretz on Friday that he knows Israel is preparing a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, and wants more time for diplomacy. "Israel has always said that it will not wait for the bomb to be ready. I think that they [the Iranians] know. Everybody knows," he said.
Kouchner was asked if Israel were to attack Iran, would it not improve the basis for dialogue, considering that Syria started negotiating with Israel after Israel destroyed a suspected Syrian nuclear site built and staffed by North Korea last year. "It is not the same thing. Bombing a very little place, a factory, etc. The action that you are supposed to prepare is a vast and large action. War is never a solution, but sometimes I know it has been used, so let me be precise - we are not absolutely desperate - we have to start trying to get some allies, isolating [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, trying to help the people in favor of more modernity," he said.
French dialogue with Syria - which is considering a number of nuclear installations, along the Iranian model – has led the United States to reconsider its efforts to isolate the Damascus regime of President Bashar al-Assad despite concerns over Syria's nuclear aims. A senior U.S. official told the Reuters news service that there were talks on how best Washington could "influence" Damascus in the wake of the Franco-Syrian talks. The US is unlikely to return an ambassador to Damascus any time soon, according to U.S. officials and experts cited by Voice of Israel government radio, who say sanctions against Syria could be removed. The ambassador was recalled after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
On Thursday, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said Jerusalem had no problem with the US engaging in dialogue with Damascus. That dialogue has already included a 10-minute conversation between American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Wallid Muallem at a dinner with Arab foreign ministers on September 28. The next day Assistant Secretary of State David Welch had a more-lengthy meeting with Muallem.
Part of the move to reexamine Syria policy is also to lay the groundwork for the next administration, either led by Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama.