By STEVEN ERLANGER
June 5, 2005
JERUSALEM, June 4 - Syria's information minister on Saturday denied Israeli claims that his country test-fired Scud missiles on May 27, calling the accusations an "expression of Israel's hostile intentions."
In remarks carried by Syria's official news agency, the minister, Mahdi Dakhlallah, said the Israeli allegations were part of a pressure campaign against Syria.
Israeli military officials told The New York Times on Thursday that Syria test-fired the three Scud missiles equipped with airburst warheads, reinforcing Israeli worries about Syria's ability to deliver a missile-borne chemical attack against Israeli civilian targets. They said one missile broke up over southern Turkey. American officials have confirmed the Israeli account.
The Israelis showed a reporter images shot from an airplane that included a launching, the breaking up of a missile, the parts falling into a field and a Turkish farmer running toward the debris and gesturing.
The Turkish military said debris, apparently from a missile from Syria, landed on two agricultural villages in the southern province of Hatay, causing no injuries or damage. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said Syria had apologized and assured Turkey that the incident was "just an accident" that occurred during routine military training.
Israeli security officials said the missile tests were Syria's first since 2001. They said they saw the tests as a gesture of defiance of the United States and the United Nations, which pushed Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a critic of Syria's influence in Lebanon.
Mr. Dakhlallah warned of the danger posed by Israel's nuclear arsenal and said, "It's normal for a state to possess all defense potentials, especially if it is in a region shrouded with tension, aggression and continuous Israeli occupation."
04 Jun 2005 23:48:35 GMT
Source: Reuters
MADRID, June 5 (Reuters) - Canada has extradited to Spain two men who sought asylum there after fleeing Spanish jail terms connected to a campaign of violence by Basque guerrilla sympathisers, the Madrid government said.
Gorka Perea Salazar and Eduardo Plagaro Perez de Arrilucea were being flown to Spain on Saturday evening on a Spanish plane, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Spain's High Court issued an arrest warrant for Perea and Plagaro when they fled Spain after being sentenced in May 1997 to jail terms of seven and six years respectively for arson.
Perea, 31, and Plagaro, 33, sought political asylum in Quebec but the request was suspended when they were arrested in Montreal in June 2001 after the Spanish government requested their extradition, the Interior Ministry said.
They were accused of taking part in "kale borroka", the Basque-language name for a long-running campaign of street violence by young supporters of the Basque guerrilla group ETA.
The Canadian government approved Spain's request in 2003 but extradition was delayed until now following an appeal.
Perea and Plagaro were both arrested several times in the 1990s, accused of public disorder or involvement with ETA support groups, the Spanish ministry said.
ETA, classed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a campaign to carve out an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.
AlertNet news