U.S. concerned Syria may be giving Scuds to Hezbollah

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States voiced concern on Wednesday that Syria may have supplied Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas with Scud missiles that can hit deep inside Israel, potentially altering the military balance between the long-time foes.

A day after Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of handing over "sophisticated Scud missiles to Hezbollah that threaten Israel," the White House said it had warned Damascus of a possible "destabilizing effect" for the region.

"There's concern that this is under consideration, but it's unclear whether or not the missiles have been transferred," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Such a development could threaten U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic outreach to Syria and create new obstacles to the confirmation of a new U.S. ambassador to Damascus after a five-year absence.

One Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled in to Hezbollah, an Islamist group backed by Iran and Syria, over the past two months.

Another Israeli official said the missiles were believed to have come without launchers but called that "irrelevant" since they were placed in improvised silos. There was no immediate word on where in Lebanon the missiles were stationed.

The Obama administration said it made its displeasure known at the highest levels of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

"We obviously are increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that ... is allegedly being transferred," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"We have expressed our concerns to those governments and believe that steps should be taken to reduce any risk and any danger of anything from happening," he told reporters.

Hezbollah fought a war with Israel in 2006 that cost Lebanon a heavy civilian toll. The group fired off barrages of rockets with ranges of 20-60 miles that forced evacuation of large parts of northern Israel.

The Scuds reported to have been sent to Hezbollah are believed to have a range of more than 435 miles, which would put Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear sites within range, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Israeli and U.S. officials.

THREAT TO LEBANESE

Washington said the presence of Scuds on Lebanese soil could threaten the country's stability.

"If such an action has been taken, and we continue to analyze this issue ... clearly it potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk," said U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Such a move by Syria would also jeopardize Obama's effort to ease strained ties with Damascus, which the Bush administration tried to isolate, accusing it of obstructing Middle East peace and fueling the insurgency in Iraq.

The nomination of Obama's choice for ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, but some Republican senators expressed concerns about it, signaling they may try to block a vote by the full Senate.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, visited Damascus as a U.S. emissary recently and raised concerns with Assad about the flow of arms from Syria to Hezbollah, according to Kerry's spokesman, Fred Jones.

Peres, discussing Syria with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Paris, accused Damascus of "doublespeak" for talking about peace on one hand and arming Hezbollah on the other.

"The transfer of arms from Syria to Hezbollah and Syria's support of terrorist organizations does not square with its declarations of seeking peace. We will not allow Syria to play this double game. The transfer of weapons reveals Syria's true face," Peres told Fillon, according to a statement from the Israeli president's office.

Peres's accusation is the latest volley in a war of words between Israel and Syria.

Four rounds of indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel, mediated by Turkey, broke down in 2008. Syria says the talks cannot continue without an Israeli commitment to withdraw from the whole of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel occupied in 1967.

(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin, Arshad Mohammed, Susan Cornwell, Adam Entous and Dan Williams in Washington and Ari Rabinovich in Jerusalem; Editing by Chris Wilson)