Lebanon (Phoenicia) first victim of biological warfare

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/11/26/scientist_says_hittites_began_bioterrorism/5023/

Scientist says Hittites began bioterrorism

ROME, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Italian researcher Siro Trevisanato says he believes
the ancient Hittite empire was the first to use biological warfare.

Trevisanato says in the Journal of Medical Hypotheses the Hittites "were
the first people to wage bioterrorism," using diseased sheep, ANSA reported
Monday.

He said the Hittites of Asia Minor used tularemia, an animal-borne
infection fatal to humans, to aid their expansion campaigns.

An example was demonstrated in 1325 B.C. when the Hittites sacked the
Phoenician city of Symra on what is now the border of Lebanon and Syria.

"It is then that we first hear of the so-called Hittite Plague. It appears
in several documents. It is no accident, in my view, that it coincides with
the first documented appearance of tularemia," Trevisanato said.

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