Despite the international outrage over its tragic fate, Malaysia Airlines' MH17 is not the first civilian airliner thought to have been shot down by rebels with an anti-aircraft missile. Nor will it be the last, unless urgent steps are taken internationally to avert another such disaster.
Next to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, the greatest threat to international security and civilian safety is posed by surface-to-air missiles, including the shoulder-fired types known as man-portable air defense systems, or "manpads." Yet major powers have supplied such missiles to rebel groups in different parts of the world for decades.
