Hi Bill,
Israel would not have made a strike like this, deep into Syria, without the strategic comfort of U.S. forces in Iraq. The whole political landscape there has been changed and the dems want to give it all back.
Yahoo! News Sun, Oct 05, 2003 Search News StoriesNews PhotosAudio/VideoFull CoverageThe New York TimesThe Web for Advanced
Israel Strikes in Syria After Suicide Bombing
1 hour, 27 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel took its battle against Palestinian militants to Syria on Sunday, striking deep inside Syrian territory for the first time in decades, after a suicide bomber killed 19 people in an Israeli restaurant.
Reuters Photo
Reuters
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
Israeli security sources and Palestinian sources in Beirut said Israeli warplanes carried out the attack near the Syrian capital.
"The Israel Defense Forces operated last night deep inside Syrian territory and hit a training base used by terror groups, including Islamic Jihad," the army said, without giving details of the forces used in the operation.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on Saturday that killed 19 people in a beach restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
The raid targeted "an abandoned training camp" that belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Ain Saheb area, about 12.5 miles northwest of Damascus, a Palestinian source said.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment on the surprise Israeli move, made against the backdrop of speculation that Israel would target Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), whom it has threatened to exile.
"The Islamic Jihad, like other terror organizations ... enjoys the support and backing of countries in the region -- foremost Iran and Syria," the Israeli army said.
"Syria is a country that sponsors terror and constantly tries to sabotage any attempt to achieve quiet and stability in the region."
An Islamic Jihad official in Beirut told the Arabic Al Jazeera television network there were no training camps in Syria.
But an Israeli security source said Islamic Jihad and Hamas members are trained in the use of explosives and other ordnance at the Ain Saheb camp and some return to the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) to establish "operational terrorist networks."
The source said the camp was sponsored by Iran.
"AXIS OF TERROR"
The United States has been pressing Syria to meet a long standing demand by Israel, its key regional ally to close offices of radical Palestinian groups.
"We will not tolerate the continuation of this axis of terror between Tehran, Damascus and Gaza to continue to operate and kill innocent men, women and children," Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) told CNN.
"The operation that took place early morning today was intended to send that message off to Syria as well to the leaders of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas," he said.
Syria-based Palestinian groups have been keeping a low profile in a bid to reduce pressure on their hosts, who say the offices were merely media functions of the groups that include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week Damascus was taking precautions "against every negative matter that Israel could think of" following media reports that Israel might bomb leaders of Palestinian militant groups in Syria and Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes have hit Syrian military targets in Lebanon in recent years but Israeli military commentators said it was the first time since the 1973 Middle East war that they have struck deep inside the Syrian homeland.
In August, Israeli jets buzzed Assad's holiday palace in an overflight widely seen as a warning to rein in Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas who have launched sporadic attacks along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hours after the Haifa bombing, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at what the army said was a weapons depot belonging to the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. No one was hurt.
Israeli forces also blocked the Gaza Strip's main north-south highway and its coastal road to Palestinian traffic, a measure it has taken after past suicide bombings and an edict Palestinians condemn as collective punishment.
Islamic Jihad named the suicide bomber as Hanadi Tayseer Jaradat, a 29-year-old lawyer from the West Bank city of Jenin whom an Israeli newspaper dubbed "the devil's advocate."
Islamic Jihad and relatives said she was avenging the killing of her brother and cousin, Islamic Jihad members, by Israel.
The bombing at the Maxim restaurant, frequented by Jews and Arabs in the northern city of Haifa, triggered fresh calls in Israel to exile Arafat. But an Israeli government source said no decision on Arafat was imminent
Yahoo! News Sun, Oct 05, 2003 Search News StoriesNews PhotosAudio/VideoFull CoverageThe New York TimesThe Web for Advanced
Israel Strikes in Syria After Suicide Bombing
1 hour, 27 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel took its battle against Palestinian militants to Syria on Sunday, striking deep inside Syrian territory for the first time in decades, after a suicide bomber killed 19 people in an Israeli restaurant.
Reuters Photo
Reuters
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
Israeli security sources and Palestinian sources in Beirut said Israeli warplanes carried out the attack near the Syrian capital.
"The Israel Defense Forces operated last night deep inside Syrian territory and hit a training base used by terror groups, including Islamic Jihad," the army said, without giving details of the forces used in the operation.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on Saturday that killed 19 people in a beach restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
The raid targeted "an abandoned training camp" that belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Ain Saheb area, about 12.5 miles northwest of Damascus, a Palestinian source said.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment on the surprise Israeli move, made against the backdrop of speculation that Israel would target Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), whom it has threatened to exile.
"The Islamic Jihad, like other terror organizations ... enjoys the support and backing of countries in the region -- foremost Iran and Syria," the Israeli army said.
"Syria is a country that sponsors terror and constantly tries to sabotage any attempt to achieve quiet and stability in the region."
An Islamic Jihad official in Beirut told the Arabic Al Jazeera television network there were no training camps in Syria.
But an Israeli security source said Islamic Jihad and Hamas members are trained in the use of explosives and other ordnance at the Ain Saheb camp and some return to the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) to establish "operational terrorist networks."
The source said the camp was sponsored by Iran.
"AXIS OF TERROR"
The United States has been pressing Syria to meet a long standing demand by Israel, its key regional ally to close offices of radical Palestinian groups.
"We will not tolerate the continuation of this axis of terror between Tehran, Damascus and Gaza to continue to operate and kill innocent men, women and children," Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) told CNN.
"The operation that took place early morning today was intended to send that message off to Syria as well to the leaders of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas," he said.
Syria-based Palestinian groups have been keeping a low profile in a bid to reduce pressure on their hosts, who say the offices were merely media functions of the groups that include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week Damascus was taking precautions "against every negative matter that Israel could think of" following media reports that Israel might bomb leaders of Palestinian militant groups in Syria and Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes have hit Syrian military targets in Lebanon in recent years but Israeli military commentators said it was the first time since the 1973 Middle East war that they have struck deep inside the Syrian homeland.
In August, Israeli jets buzzed Assad's holiday palace in an overflight widely seen as a warning to rein in Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas who have launched sporadic attacks along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hours after the Haifa bombing, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at what the army said was a weapons depot belonging to the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. No one was hurt.
Israeli forces also blocked the Gaza Strip's main north-south highway and its coastal road to Palestinian traffic, a measure it has taken after past suicide bombings and an edict Palestinians condemn as collective punishment.
Islamic Jihad named the suicide bomber as Hanadi Tayseer Jaradat, a 29-year-old lawyer from the West Bank city of Jenin whom an Israeli newspaper dubbed "the devil's advocate."
Islamic Jihad and relatives said she was avenging the killing of her brother and cousin, Islamic Jihad members, by Israel.
The bombing at the Maxim restaurant, frequented by Jews and Arabs in the northern city of Haifa, triggered fresh calls in Israel to exile Arafat. But an Israeli government source said no decision on Arafat was imminent |
