Syria denies arming Hezbollah with Scud missiles

Syria denied U.S. charges it had supplied Hezbollah guerrillas with long-range Scud missiles and said on Thursday that Israel might be using the accusation as a pretext for a military strike against Syrian targets.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was "increasingly concerned" about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006.

"Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications."

Hezbollah, a powerful political and military group, hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah, which maintains a stronghold in southern Lebanon along the Israeli border, in the past two months.

The United States said the move would have a possible "destabilizing effect" on the region. The presence of more advanced missiles in Lebanon could raise the prospects of a pre-emptive strike by Israel. Hezbollah is on the U.S. terrorism blacklist, but is part of Lebanon's unity government.

Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression

Syrian Foreign Minister

No comment from Lebanon government

The Lebanese government has had no comment on the U.S. allegations. But Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the comments made by the White House were interference.

"This American interference that has completely adopted the Israeli position, is condemned and rejected by Lebanon. This U.S. position presents a threat to Lebanon," Fadlallah said.

"These American pressures and Israeli intimidation will not affect our choices and our commitment to defend our country by all means," Fadlallah told Reuters.

The southern Lebanese border has remained tense since the 2006 war. Israel has repeatedly criticized the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for not doing more to stop weapons smuggling to Hezbollah. On its part, Lebanon has complained about near-daily Israeli over-flights.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in February that if Israel struck Beirut's airport, the group would hit Israel's Ben-Gurion airport.

Syrian and Lebanese officials have accused Israel this year of pushing for a war in the region, against the backdrop of an Iranian nuclear program which Israel views as a threat to its survival.

Nevertheless, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last month he was committed to seeking peace with the Jewish state.

Syrian and Israeli forces last fought each other in Lebanon in the 1980s. A 1974 ceasefire has kept the front between the two quiet on the Golan Heights, which Israeli occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

The two sides held four rounds of indirect peace talks in 2008, only eight months after Israeli planes bombed a target in eastern Syria the United States, Israel's chief ally, said was an illegal nuclear project.

Syria said the target was a non-nuclear military installation, and "reserved the right to respond in the appropriate time and place".

This American interference that has completely adopted the Israeli position, is condemned and rejected by Lebanon. This U.S. position presents a threat to Lebanon

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah