
09-26-2007, 03:18 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Huntsville, AL,
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Explosion Aborts CW Project Run By Iran and Syria
Robin Hughes Jane’s Defense Weekly 26 Sep 2007
A joint development program by Iran and Syria to weaponize Syrian’s 'Scud B', 'Scud C' and 'Scud D' short-range ballistic missiles with chemical warheads has been aborted following an explosion at a classified missile production laboratory in Aleppo, northern Syria, in July.
The program falls under a strategic co-operation accord signed between Syria and Iran in November 2005.
The agreement included provisions ranging from "the supply of weapons and ammunition, the training of Syrian personnel, co-operation and continuous transfer of technology and equipment in the areas of weapons of mass destruction [particularly the upgrade of Syrian missile and chemical warfare [CW] capabilities] to Iranian troops operating advanced weapon systems in Syria during a military confrontation [with the West]".
Syrian defense sources told Jane's that during a 26 July test to weaponize a 500 km 'Scud C' with a mustard gas warhead, an explosion occurred in a laboratory adjacent to a chemical agent storage facility located in a Syrian military camp in Aleppo. The explosion killed 15 Syrian military personnel and "dozens" of Iranian missile weaponization engineers.
According to the sources: "The explosion occurred when fuel caught alight in the missile production laboratory”.
"The blast dispersed chemical agents (including VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent) across the storage facility and outside. Other Iranian engineers were seriously injured with chemical burns to exposed body parts not protected by safety overalls."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by a unit attached to the Syrian foreign intelligence service.
In the interim, the regime in Damascus has moved to curtail media exposure of the blast and has destroyed all information to indicate that the site of the explosion included a missile fuel production laboratory and that Iranian experts had been injured in the explosion.
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