'Scud charges aim to harm Syria'

Top Assad adviser says "ridiculous" claims affect US-Syria ties.

Scud Missile311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Scud Missile311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli allegations that Damascus is supplying Hizbullah with Scud missiles are aimed at undermining the country's improving relations with the US, a top Syrian official said Monday.
Buthaina Shaaban, a top adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, stressed that the missiles were too big to be moved undetected in a tiny country like Lebanon, where Israeli reconnaissance planes fly overhead on daily basis.
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In an article published in the daily Tishrin, she described the allegations as "ridiculous."
Syria has denied the charges, as has Sa'ad Hariri, Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said the Obama administration is still committed to improving ties with Syria, despite its "deeply troubling" moves to aid Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrilla group.