US Warns Syria over Scud Claims

A top US official has warned of serious repercussions for Syria if claims that it supplied the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah with Scud missiles are true.

US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman said "all options are going to be on the table looking at this." But he declined to say whether the US could confirm a transfer had occurred.

"The United States has shown in the past that we are able to act," he said. "I expect that all options are going to be on the table looking at this," BBC quoted him as saying.

Earlier, Lebanon's prime minister dismissed the accusation, first made by Israel, saying it seemed an attempt to find a pretext for a military strike.

"Threats that Lebanon now has huge missiles are similar to what they used to say about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Saad Hariri had said. "Israel is trying to reproduce the same scenario for Lebanon."

Analysts say that if Hezbollah's military wing obtains ballistic missiles with the help of its backers, Syria and Iran, it could potentially alter the military balance in the region, putting all of Israel within reach.

The Syrian government has said the accusations are "fabrications."