- JERUSALEM/MADRID (Reuters)
- Syria's ambassador to Spain said on Wednesday Damascus would respond
militarily against Israel if the Jewish state carried out new attacks on
Syrian territory.
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- A senior Israeli security source swiftly dismissed
the threat, saying Israel did not want to escalate tensions and believed
Syria did not want to start a war. The source said the envoy's statement
was mainly intended to impress the Arab world.
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- But the comments increased tensions simmering since
Israel carried out an air strike on Sunday on what it said was a training
camp for Palestinian militants near Damascus, one day after a Palestinian
suicide bombing killed 19 people in Israel.
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- Syria says the target was a civilian site and has said
it has the right to defend itself.
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- "If Israel attacks Syria one, two and three times,
of course the people of Syria and the government of Syria and the army
will react to defend ourselves," Syrian Ambassador Mohsen Bilal told
Reuters in Madrid.
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- Asked if that meant responding militarily, he said:
"By all means. If Israel continues to attack us and continues its
aggression of course we shall react to the attacks in spite of the fact
that we are fighting for peace and wish to reopen the (1991) Madrid (peace)
conference."
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- Israel did not immediately respond formally to the
envoy's remarks.
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- But the senior Israeli security source said: "This
sort of statement is intended mainly for the Arab world, to give the impression
Syria is steadfast in the fight against Israel.
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- "Israel does not seek an escalation with Syria,
and indeed has taken precautions to prevent that. We will act in self-defense
if necessary, but not if Damascus receives our message that it must stop
supporting terror," the source said.
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- He said it was unlikely Syria would launch a conventional
war on Israel.
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- WIDER CONCERNS
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- The new tensions have sparked discussion of whether
three years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict could ignite violence in other
parts of the Middle East, but most political and military analysts say
this is unlikely.
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- Israel's air raid was its deepest strike into Syria
since the 1973 Middle East war. It followed a suicide bombing by a female
suicide bomber from the Islamic Jihad group who killed 19 people in a restaurant
in the northern city of Haifa.
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- Israeli jets roared over Lebanon on Wednesday, without
launching any strike and only breaking the sound barrier, two days after
an Israeli soldier and a Lebanese boy were killed in border flare-ups,
a Reuters correspondent said.
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- Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
threats on Tuesday that Israel would hit its enemies anywhere, Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami said it was unlikely Israel would launch an
attack on the Islamic Republic.
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- Israel repeatedly accuses Iran of arming, training
and funding Palestinian militant groups but Iran insists its support is
purely moral.
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- "They (the Israelis) are so involved with problems
inside their country that I do not think they want to create another problem
outside it. We are also fully prepared to defend our country," Khatami
told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
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- Sharon has been buoyed by support from President Bush.
Washington has accused Syria of being a state sponsor of terrorism.
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- "The decisions that he (Sharon) makes to defend
her people are valid decisions. We would be doing the same thing,"
Bush said on Tuesday. He added that it was "important for the prime
minister to avoid escalation."
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- Faced with what the army called numerous alerts of
pending suicide attacks, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gave the military
the go-ahead on Tuesday to order a special call-up of reservists, should
it deem one necessary, security sources said.
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- QURIE RENEWS TRUCE CALL
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- Some ministers want Israel to carry out a threat to
"remove" Palestinian President Yasser Arafat but Sharon has until
now opposed this, saying it could be counter-productive.
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- The latest violence has dealt further blows to peace
hopes, although Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, who was sworn in
with a small emergency cabinet on Tuesday, renewed calls for progress on
the U.S.-backed peace "road map."
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- Qurie made a fresh appeal for a cease-fire with Israel
in an interview published by an Israeli newspaper on Wednesday, saying
he was ready to start talks immediately. Israeli Labour Minister Zevulun
Orlev quickly ruled out a truce.
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- Israel says it will not press on with the road map
until the Palestinians rein in Islamic militants. Qurie says he will try
to persuade the militants to end violence but rules out using force which
could risk a civil war.
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