SAUDIS PREPARE TO DEPLOY INTERMEDIATE-RANGE MISSILES

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has prepared for the deployment of
intermediate-range ballistic missiles in its southern desert.

A Washington-based defense group reports that Saudi Arabia has built
facilities for intermediate-range missiles in a newly-constructed complex
north of the desert oasis of Al Sulayyil. The complex is said to contain two
missile launch areas six kilometers apart as well as a huge support system.

Global Security, the defense group, released photographs taken three weeks
ago from the Ikonos satellite of what were identified as two missile bases
and a complex of 33 buildings, eight of them capable of storing Chinese
CSS-2 missiles. The photographs, also published in the Israeli newspaper
Yediot Aharonot, identified the missiles as the CSS-2, reported to have a
range of between 2,500 and 3,500 kilometers. The missile, 24 meters long, is
capable of carrying a nonconventional warhead.

The organization, which analyzed the satellite photographs said the missile
launch complex located 27 kilometers north of Al Sulayyil consists of a site
support area and two launch areas. Global Security said the support area was
"probably used in the construction and ongoing maintenance of both launch
sites."

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