UNITED NATIONS – As Jerusalem officials attempted to belittle the dispute with Moscow over a reported sale of 18 modern surface to surface missiles to Syria, Washington’s warnings yesterday were much more explicit, even hinting at the prospect of sanctions against Russia.

“There are potential sanctions, under U.S. law, but that would have to be looked at if and when such a sale should occur,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, answering questions about the reported Russian sale of missiles to Syria.

The Russian defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, was in the capital yesterday for a series of meetings, and he landed right into the controversy over the sale, which American officials explicitly said were contrary to American law. Syria is of huge concern for Washington, not only because of its threat to Israel, but also because of its reported support for the anti-American insurgency in Iraq.

Several officials in Jerusalem told the New York Sun that while coordinating with Washington they were trying to act behind the scenes to avoid a public confrontation with President Putin, who is considered a highly valued ally for Prime Minister Sharon. The foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, told reporters in Jerusalem that Israel is in close consultations with the Russians, adding “we are working to achieve an understanding” with Moscow.

The government censor, charged with preventing military secrets from appearing in the Israeli-based press, was able to keep the lid on the story, thought several reporters have been aware for several days of a Russian-Syrian missile deal. Haaretz hinted about it last week when it reported on a special meeting of Mr. Sharon’s foreign policy team to deal with a new “crisis” in Russian-Israeli relations. Yesterday, once the story appeared in the Russian daily Kommersant, it led the Israeli news all day.

Coincidentally, at the same time that the story hit the airwaves, the Knesset’s Foreign and Defense Committee held a previously planned special closed-door meeting on the growing regional missile threat. The head of the committee, Yuval Shteinitz of the Likud party, called on the Israel Defense Force to establish a new unit that will be dedicated to the issue of missiles.

Mr. Shteinitz told the Israeli Web site Y-net that the problem with the Iskander-E missiles was their superior precision over the older Scuds with the same or even longer range that Syria currently possesses. This, he added, would force Israel to fund a very expensive upgrade of its own systems.

Several Israeli publications reported that Israel is most concerned with the SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles which could be used against Israeli fighter jets be transferred by Syria to Hezbollah.

Until now, the most serious missile threat Israel faced came from Iran, which is remodeling North Korean long-range missiles into its own Shahab series. The most advanced, Shahab-3, can reportedly reach the heart of Israel, as well as parts of Europe, including Russia. Israel is working on the Arrow anti-missile system, considered the world leader in its field.

Besides strategic reasons, the stories about revamping Syria’s missile batteries were so alarming to Israel because until now the assumption was that Damascus, considered on the verge of bankruptcy, was unable to afford a new arms race. In the last few years there were several similar reports about a Russian sale to Syria, and if this one proves more founded, many would wonder what changed in the financial situation of Damascus.