OPENING SKIRMISH

The Reagan Administration has delivered to Congress the long-awaited strategic review of US arms sales to the Middle East. The study was presented at a confidential briefing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by high ranking officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials delivered a 'threat analysis' of the dangers posed to Israel by arms sales to Arab states, together with a similar analysis of external threats to Saudi Arabia and Jordan from, respectively, Iran and the Soviet Union and from Syria.