Dozens died in Syria-Iran missile test'*

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST     Sep. 18, 2007

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and
development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday
in Jane's Defence Weekly, which reported that dozens of Iranian
engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian
team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when
the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including
sarin nerve gas.

Reports of the accident were circulated at the time; however, no details
were released by the Syrian government, and there were no hints of an
Iranian connection.

The report comes on the heels of criticism leveled by the Syrians at the
United States, accusing it of spreading "false" claims of Syrian nuclear
activity and cooperation with North Korea to excuse an alleged Israeli
air incursion over the country this month.

According to globalsecurity.org, Syria is not a signatory of either the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), - an international agreement banning
the production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons - or the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Syria began developing chemical weapons in 1973, just before the Yom
Kipper War. Globalsecurity.org cites the country as having one of the
most advanced chemical weapons programs in the Middle East.