WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The senior Syrian diplomat in Washington was summoned to the State Department yesterday to review “provocative behavior” regarding a potential transfer of Scud missiles to Hezbollah, a State Department spokesman said.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the transfer of any arms, and especially ballistic missile systems such as the SCUD, from Syria to Hezbollah,” State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.
“We call for an immediate cessation of any arms transfers to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region,” the statement said.
The United States has not confirmed whether it has actual information on an arms transfer. However, a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We wouldn’t have called them in if we didn’t think something was going on.”
The State Department said this was the fourth time in recent months that Washington has raised the issue with the Syrian Embassy.
