quods, April 23, SPA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday dismissed concerns by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over Moscow's sale of missiles to Syria, saying the weapons would not fall into the hands of anti-Israeli militants. Putin, due to visit the Jewish state next week, told Israel's Channel 1 television Russia would be able to monitor what happened to the short-range, anti-aircraft missiles it had sold to Syria. "(The weapons) cannot be transferred to terror organisations without someone finding out," Channel 1 translated Putin as saying from Russian. "We have the capabilities to monitor them." Sharon said on Thursday the missiles posed a danger to Israel and that he intended to raise the issue during Putin's visit, the first to Israel by a Kremlim leader. Putin said he visited Israel 10 years ago before he was elected president. Israel opposes the arms deal, fearing the missiles could fall into the hands of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah or Palestinian militant factions for use against Israeli aircraft. --More 2321 Local Time 2021 GMT
