Israeli military activities – Letter from Syria

Letter dated 27 January 1983 from the Permanent Representative of

the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the

Secretary-Genera1

With reference to the letter from the representative of Israel which was circulated as a document of the Security Council dated 21 January 1983 (S/15569) and as a document of the General Assembly dated 25 January 1983 (A/38/80), I have the honour to inform you that Israel is trying to camouflage its military preparations and hostile designs. Because of its aggressive objectives and its expansionist and racist policy, the Zionist entity is the source of the conflicts and tensions which persist in the Middle East and the driving force behind the arms race in this region. It is this entity which is endangering peace and security.

It is common knowledge that Israel has received and continues to receive sophisticated modern weapons and assistance and that the Zionist entity has become a dangerous military arsenal, threatens to invade and attack all the States of the region and is determined to extend its aggressive military influence still further.

This huge military arsenal, which exceeds the absorptive capacity of Israel, has as its sole object the pursuit of aggression, occupation, expansion and annexation and the realization of what the Minister of Defence of Israel has called "Israel's strategic interest". In an article published in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on 18 December 1982, he identified three areas in which Israel must realize its strategic interest, the first being Israel's neighbouring Arab States, the second the other Arab States and the third "foreign States whose geographical situation or political and strategic orientation could endanger Israel's national security". The third area includes States "like Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, and such regions as the Gulf and Africa, the north African and central African States in particular". In the same article, the Minister of Defence of Israel emphasized that the defence of Israel's security "obliges us to safeguard our ability to maintain a balance of forces and a technological superiority capable of overcoming any Arab military alliance".

Clearly, the realization of "Israel's strategic interest” in the vast geographical context mentioned requires a larger military build-up and the

acquisition of the most modern, most sophisticated and most destructive weapons. Israel has taken a giant stride in that direction, and its aggression against Lebanon in the course of the summer of 1982, which continues today, is only one demonstration of this.

Israel's history, which irrefutably and patently demonstrates its record of aggression and its expansionist designs and schemes, and the extent to which Israel has expanded its military build-up and strengthened its capability to carry out invasion and aggression underline the fact that the threats which we mentioned in the note verbale circulated as a document of the Security Council dated 19 January 1983 (S/15566) and as a document of the General Assembly dated 21 January 1983 (A/38/76) denote Israel's intention to commit acts of aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.

Israel's reply is further evidence of its hypocrisy and the way in which it misrepresents and falsifies the facts.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for this letter to be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under the item entitled "The situation in the Middle East", and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dia-Allah EL-FATTAL

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of the

Syrian Arab Republic to the

United Nations

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