Ninety Percent of Syria’s Ballistic Missiles Used Up

TEL AVIV (Reuters) —

Syria has used up more than 90 percent of its ballistic missiles against rebels during a more than four-year-old civil war but a few were transferred to Hizbullah in neighboring Lebanon, a senior Israeli military officer said.

Israel, which is expanding its high-altitude Arrow air defense system with U.S. help, has been keeping an eye on Syria’s Scud-type missiles as well as Iran’s long-range Shehabs as potential threats.

“The number of [Syrian] ballistic missiles left is less than 10 percent,” a senior Israeli officer told Reuters on Wednesday, but added, “That could still change. They could start making them again.”

Syrian opposition activists say Damascus’ army has fired dozens of devastating Scud-type missiles at rebel-held areas, out of a ballistic arsenal believed to have numbered in the hundreds before the insurgency erupted in 2011.

Hizbullah now has more than 100,000 rockets, including “around 10” advanced Scud-D missiles with conventional warheads supplied by Syria, the senior Israeli military officer said.

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