Israel Will Pursue Enemies Everywhere
Tue Oct 7, 1:35 PM ET
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Bolstered by U.S. support for Israel's strike against
Syria, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said Tuesday that
his nation would not hesitate to attack its enemies wherever they are.
Syria's president countered that the raid —
targeting what Israel said was a Palestinian
militant training camp — would only enhance
his country's power in the Middle East.
The Israeli attack, made in retaliation to a
suicide bombing, raised concern in Israel and
the Arab world that the Palestinian conflict
could widen into a regional crisis if Israel
begins pursuing militants in neighboring
nations. With tensions high after the strike,
there was shooting and mortar fire overnight
along the border between Israel and Lebanon,
where Syria is the main power-broker.
"Israel will not be deterred from protecting its
citizens and will strike its enemies in every
place and in every way," Sharon said at a
memorial service for Israeli soldiers killed
during the 1973 Middle East war.
Hours later, President Bush (news - web sites) said Israel's air strike in
Syria was part of an "essential" campaign to defend the country, and
drew a parallel between U.S. policy on terrorism and Sharon's actions.
Bush's supportive remarks, similar to comments he made Monday,
came with a caution that Sharon be wary of creating "the conditions
necessary for" more violence.
"The decisions he makes to defend her people are valid decisions," he
said. "We would be doing the same thing ... But we're also mindful when
we make decisions, as the prime minister should be, that he fully
understand the consequences of any decision."
Sharon's statement was his first since Israeli warplanes bombed a
suspected Islamic Jihad training base outside the Syrian capital of
Damascus on Sunday, the first major Israeli attack on Syrian soil in
three decades. That raid came a day after a Jihad suicide bombing
Saturday that killed 19 people in a restaurant in Haifa.
Syrian President Bashar Assad denounced Sharon's administration as a
"government of war" in remarks published Tuesday.
Assad said Syria's role in the region "is painful" to Sharon's government.
The raid "was a failed Israeli attempt to undercut this role," he told the
London-based newspaper Al-Hayat.
"We can, with full confidence, say that what happened will only make
Syria's role more effective and influential in events in the region," he said.
In violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border, a 4-year-old Lebanese boy
was killed early Tuesday in a village, apparently after an anti-aircraft shell
or mortar fired from within Lebanon toward Israel fell short.
Lebanese security officials and residents in Houla said Ali Yassin was
killed and his twin brother wounded in the explosion. Israel's army said
at least three mortar shells were shot from Lebanon toward northeastern
Israel.
Hours earlier, the Israeli army said a sniper from the Syrian-backed
Hezbollah guerrilla group fired across the border at an Israeli patrol,
prompting return fire. One Israeli soldier was killed, identified as Staff
Sgt. David Solomonov, 21, who also held U.S. citizenship. Solomonov,
from the town of Kfar Saba, emigrated to Israel with his parents 13 years
ago from Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Consulate.
Hezbollah denied any involvement on the shooting in a fax to The
Associated Press in Beirut.
Sharon's vow to pursue militants wherever they are came after Israel
accused Syria of harboring and funding Islamic Jihad and also named
Iran as a key backer of the militant group.
Itamar Rabinovitch, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and a
former peace negotiator with Syria, wrote in the daily Yediot Ahronot that
the raid signaled a sharp escalation in the conflict with Palestinians and
questioned its wisdom.
"As of now, this was a solitary act — a sort of signal to Damascus
and behind Damscus, to Tehran — that Israel is liable to turn the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a regional crisis," Rabinovitch wrote.
"But does Israel really want this? Is Israel willing to step up the battle
with Syria?"
The head of Israel's northern command, Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz,
warned Lebanon and Syria that a refusal to stop the Hezbollah
activities would bring about Israeli retaliation.
"These actions are very dangerous for Lebanon and Syria... and can
bring about a serious deterioration in the situation," said Gantz said.
Israel's Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that the
security Cabinet decided at a meeting on Aug. 19 — following a
Hamas bus bombing that killed 23 people — to target an Islamic
Jihad training camp near Damascus, but postponed the air raid for
operational reasons.
After the Haifa suicide bombing Saturday, the army said it was
possible to carry out the operation, and a group of Cabinet ministers
approved the air raid, Olmert said.
Israeli warplanes bombed the training camp — which apparently has
been abandoned for some time — early Sunday.
"We have no limitations regarding the targets and the goals so long as
they are, in the end, connected to the terrorist acts," Olmert told Israel
Radio.
Raanan Gissin, a Sharon aide, said Israel's security cabinet decided
after the Aug. 19 bus bombing that "there would be no limitations, not
even geographic, to get the leadership or the infrastructure of the
terrorist groups."
The Israeli air raid came after two clear messages that Israel means
business, Gissin said. The first message came shortly after the Iraq
(news - web sites) war when Secretary of State Colin Powell (news -
web sites) gave Assad an Israeli demand that Damascus remove the
militant groups operating in Syria, he said.
In August, Israeli warplanes flew over Assad's summer palace in
Latakia, Gissin said. The warplanes reportedly flew so low that
windows in the palace shattered.
Now, Israel wanted to send a message to both the militant groups and
to Assad, Gissin said.
"We hope the Syrians will sober up and realize that what they are
doing is endangering them," Gissin said. "Hopefully, Assad will get the
message." |
