A sale of cruise missiles to Syria that was negotiated in 2007 but only revealed by Russia last year is going forward despite the regional unrest and Western fears concerning the end-use of the weapons being sold. Hope by the United States and Israel that Moscow would abrogate the contract because of the Middle East turmoil dissipated when Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov reported that the sale is “in the implementation stage.” Both nations are particularly concerned that the sophisticated anti-ship cruise missiles will end up on the hands of Hizbullah which has been receiving large quantities of other missiles from Iran through Syria. The Hizbullah arsenal is now estimated to contain 60,000 missiles. Syria will receive 72 Yakhont cruise missiles in the $300 million deal. Some analysts see the Russian sale as being rooted in business rather than ideology as the Russians stand to lose about $10 billion in arms sales to the Middle East because of the wave of regimes being toppled. Russia also has a sale of fighter jets under contract with Syria. Syria and Iran have also entered a new defense agreement: the two navies will “cooperate in training issues and the exchange of personnel,” according to the IRNA news agency.