Why Israel Needs Those Missiles

A paradox: An economically ailing Soviet Union moves to drastically cut its aid to clients around the world. Syria, a major recipient of that bounty and a fierce proponent of the Arab hard line, is shaken by word from Moscow that it had better forget about trying to achieve strategic parity with Israel. All this seems to indicate an easing of the military threat Israel faces. Suddenly, though, the Pentagon reveals that it plans to transfer an advanced anti-missile system to Israel on an emergency basis. Why? Because even as the Cold War withers away, a significant new threat to the Middle East’s fragile military balance has emerged.

The portents came late in the Iran-Iraq war, when the two belligerents launched deadly ballistic missile attacks against each other’s civilian populations. The vulnerability of cities was brutally demonstrated. Since then, both countries have pushed missile acquisition, with Iraq bragging that it has developed its own 1,250-mile-range weapon. Syria, Iraq’s bitter ideological foe, has stockpiled Soviet-supplied missiles and is getting help from China and North Korea to improve their range and accuracy. Egypt and Libya have ground-to-ground missiles; so does Saudi Arabia. Israel has test-fired its own 930-mile-range weapon.

The result is that the Middle East is suddenly bristling with weapons able to carry high-explosive, chemical or even nuclear warheads. Because so many countries are now involved in the transfer of ballistic missile technology--France, West Germany, Brazil and Argentina are among them--the superpowers have only limited ability to restrain further proliferation.

The justifiable U.S. decision to supply Israel with the anti-missile Patriot system and related early-warning satellite information on an urgent basis indicates how seriously the threat to an ally is being assessed. The strategic threat, though, isn’t limited to Israel alone. It now hovers over the entire region, fueling tensions and raising the risks of fresh conflict.