Alwaght- Military experts have confirmed that Qatar has acquired short-range ballistic missiles from China amid worsening tensions with neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Qatar revealed the missiles and accompanying launch systems during its 2017 National Day parade on December 18. During the parade, Qatari forces showed what appeared to be two Chinese-made SY-400 SRBMs, carried on eight-axle transporter-erector-launchers. Qatar did not draw attention to the missiles during the parade but military experts have confirmed the missiles as Chinese.
Before Monday’s parade, the sale of such a Chinese system to the Qatari Armed Forces was not public knowledge.
The 400 mm missile system is capable of delivering conventional payloads of around 200 kilograms to a range of 400 kilometers.
The SY-400’s range would allow it to strike ground-based targets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates while based on Qatari territory.
The SY-400 is comparable to Russia’s own Iskander-E SRBM. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army classifies the system as precision rocket artillery.
Early June, Saudi-led regimes severed relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it, accusing Doha of funding "extremism". Qatar has vehemently rejected the allegations as "baseless".
On June 22, the block, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera TV, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade.
Qatar rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to violate its sovereignty.
Efforts to reconcile the warring countries have so far failed.
