Iran's Defense Minister, Brigadier-General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, is in Syria on an official visit, and is scheduled to attend talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "Expansion of defense and military cooperation between Iran and Syria" was the focus of the first round of talks by the two countries' defense ministers in Damascus on Saturday, according to Iranian news agency Fars. The two ministers also "explored... ways of accelerating implementation of the two countries' agreements." General Najjar arrived in Damascus Friday night on a three-day visit, and was given an official welcome by his Syrian counterpart Lieutenant General Hassan Ali Turkman. The visit follows Turkmani's trip to Tehran last June. Report: Syria stations missiles along Israeli border Syria has stationed thousands of missiles along the Israeli border, Agence France-Presse reported, relying on unnamed military sources who said the rockets are camouflaged or hidden underground and can strike at targets from the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) to Haifa. IDF officials responded that they have not noted any unusual activity and that Syria is not preparing to attack Israel. They said, however, that increased arms sales from Russia to Syria have brought back bitter memories of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Then, top military and intelligence advisors convinced Golda Meir, who was Prime Minister, that her fears of war were exaggerated. The day before the Yom Kippur War broke out on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts, "we received a report that worried me," the former Prime Minister wrote in her book 'My Life'. She gathered top officials in her office hours before the beginning of Yom Kippur and told them, "I have a terrible feeling that this has all happened before" - referring to the days before the Six Day War in 1967. At the end of the meeting, the head of intelligence told her aide, "Don't worry. There won't be a war." Several hours later, Syria and Egypt staged a two-pronged attack that caught the country unaware and with its back to the wall. All sources now agree that Syria is arming, but do not agree on why. Russia has proposed a $1 billion sale of advanced anti-tank rockets to Syria, similar to the weapons that Hizbullah has successfully used against the IDF in last summer's war. The weapons have a range of six kilometers (almost four miles), and some of the rockets probably would go to Hizbullah, which Israeli officials have repeatedly insisted is smuggling weapons into Lebanon from Syria. One scenario that discounts war is that Syria simply is preparing its defense against an Israeli attack. Former military intelligence chief Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash recently said, "In Syria's estimation it is preparing for a war this [coming] summer initiated by Israel, not Syria, and so it is focusing on reinforcing its arsenal." Diplomatic Activity Intensifies A flurry of diplomatic activity has begun on several fronts. The Bush administration Saturday issued statements terming a report that the United States has told Israel not to hold even exploratory talks with Syria a "myth." In addition, the Knesset this week has scheduled an unprecedented appearance of a citizen of an enemy state. Syrian-born American businessman Abe Suleiman, who has been involved in shuttle talks with Damascus, will testify before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about recent unofficial contacts between Syrians and Israelis. European Union (EU) foreign policy advisor Javier Solana said on Friday that he will travel to Damascus and resume high-level contacts after a two-year freeze. "We want to tell the Syrians we want them to work with us and the international community, particularly on Lebanon," Solana told a press conference at the end of a two-day EU summit in Brussels. When asked whether his visit means a normalization of relations between the EU and Syria, Solana did not answer. Syria is widely assumed to be actively involved in trying to help Hizbullah and other pro-Syrian parties topple the Lebanese government. The EU froze relations with Syria after the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose murder has been blamed on Syria.
