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Article: New Middle East War Seen Unlikely;Threats, Saber-Rattling Abound, but Deterrents Curb Both Sides
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 2, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Rumors of war are sweeping through a tense Middle East, but the
region's military and political balance weighs against the outbreak
of a new Arab-Israeli conflict, in the view of a wide range of
officials and experts.
Stirred by the breakdown of the peace process, the mass
immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel or their own political
ambitions, the leaders of every major Arab state facing Israel have
issued warnings of war in recent weeks. Most conspicuously, Iraq's
Saddam Hussein has repeatedly threatened to "burn half of Israel"
with chemical weapons if attacked, and he added last week that war is
"inevitable" if Israel does not change its policies.
The saber-rattling has been taken ...