Syria firing Scud-type missiles at rebels
2012-12-21 14:22
Brussels -The Syrian regime has fired Scud-type missiles
against rebel forces in what Nato Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday said
was an act of desperation.
"I can confirm that we have detected the launch of
Scud-type missiles; we strongly regret that act," Rasmussen said, adding:
"I consider it an act of a desperate regime approaching collapse."
The latest launches were detected on Thursday, a source
close to Nato said.
The use of such missiles by President Bashar Assad's
regime also highlights the "need for effective defence and protection of
our ally Turkey", Rasmussen said, referring to the planned deployment of
Patriot anti-missile batteries along its southern border with Syria.
Rasmussen stressed that the missiles had not landed on
Turkish territory but they nonetheless posed a potential threat which had to be
countered.
The Patriot deployment, to be made by Nato allies the US,
Germany and the Netherlands, is for a "defensive purpose only", he
said.
The mobile medium-range Scud, is a Soviet-era missile
which can carry a warhead of up to 1 000kg. The missiles can be equipped
with conventional, chemical or nuclear warheads.
