- Israel has authorised the United States to stockpile
military hardware at its army bases, in view of a possible US-led offensive
against Iraq, the daily Maariv reported.
-
- According to the paper, which got hold of an official
document, Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer has given the green
light for the weaponry to be brought in in the coming days.
-
- A senior US officer was quoted, anonymously, confirming
the report.
-
- Under a strategic cooperation agreement, Israel has placed
its bases at the disposal of the United States, and will provide logistic
and intelligence aid, the source said, although Israel would not be an
active player in any military action against Iraq.
-
- Maariv added that dozens of US officers and troops were
already in Israeli army bases to prepare for the arms shipments.
-
- "The quantities of arms which have already been
shipped to Israel are enormous because Israel is the only country in which
we have such confidence," one of the officers said.
-
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
