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Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East

Reported Use of Chemical Weapons, Ballistic Missiles, and Cruise Missiles in the Middle East*

Current WMD Middle East Information

Please note this section is no longer being updated. For the latest Middle East WMD information, please visit these links:

Country Profiles
Information on nuclear, biological & chemical weapons and missile programs, with details on capabilities, facilities, chronologies, and imports/exports.

CNS maintains these Country Profile databases for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

 

Chemical weapons

Ballistic missiles

Cruise missiles

Egypt

1963-67: Mustard agents and phosgene used against royalist forces in Yemen civil war.

10/73: FROG-7 artillery rockets and Scud-B missiles fired at Israeli targets.

10/21/67: Fast patrol boat sinks Israeli destroyer Eilat with two SS-N-2 Styx missiles.

10/6/73-11/73: Egyptian forces fire SSC-2b Samlet and AS-5 Kelt cruise missiles at Israeli sea and land forces.

Iran

1984-88: Mustard agents used against Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War.

1980-88: 100+ Scud-B and several hundred rockets fired at Iraqi military and civilian targets during the Iran-Iraq War.

4/20/88: Scud-B missile fired at Wafra oil field in Kuwait.

11/7/94: Three or four Scud missiles fired at Mujahideen Khalq camp in Ashraf, Iraq.

9-10/87: At least six Silkworm missiles fired at Kuwaiti shipping and oil processing facilities.

Iraq

1983-88: Mustard and nerve agents used against Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War.

1988: Mustard and nerve agents used against Kurdish settlements in Iraq

1980-88: Over 500 Scud-B and al-Hussein missiles, as well as hundreds of rockets fired at Iranian military and civilian targets during the Iran-Iraq War.

1/17-2/91: Over 90 al-Hussein and al-Hijara missiles fired at Bahrain, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

5/17/87: Mirage F-1 fighter aircraft damages the US frigate Stark with two Exocet missiles.

Israel

   

10/6/73-11/73: Israeli naval forces sink Syrian and Egyptian ships with Gabriel anti-ship missiles.

Italy

Late 1920s: Mustard agents used against Libyan forces during the Italo-Libyan War.

1935-36: Mustard agents, tear gas, and other asphyxiating agents used against Ethiopian forces in the Italo-Ethiopian War.

   

Libya

9/87: Iranian-supplied mustard agents used against Chadian troops.

4/15/86: Two or three Scud-B missiles fired at US Coast Guard facility on Italian island of Lampedusa.

 

Syria

   

10/73: SS-N-2 Styx missiles fired at Israeli navy ships.

United States

   

1/17-2/91: Over 300 Tomahawk and AGM-86 missiles fired at Iraqi targets.

1/17/93: 45 Tomahawk missiles fired at Zaafaraniyeh industrial complex in Iraq.

6/26/93: 23 Tomahawk missiles fired at Iraqi intelligence facilities.

9/3-9/4/96: 44 Tomahawk missiles fired at Iraqi air-defense facilities.

8/20/98: 12+ Tomahawk cruise missiles destroy al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum, Sudan.

12/16-12/19/98: 400+ Tomahawk missiles fired at 100 Iraqi military installations.

Yemen

 

5/94: North and South Yemeni forces exchange missile barrages on Sana and Aden.

 

* For sources and further details, see Michael Barletta and Erik Jorgensen, "Missiles, NBC Weapons, and Conflict in the Middle East: An Annotated Chronology," May 1999, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies.


Michael Barletta and Erik Jorgensen, May 1999.
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
Monterey Institute of International Studies.


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