Wednesday, Oct 08, 2003
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By Atul Aneja
Israeli media on Tuesday reported Israeli troops assuming a higher profile along its border with Lebanon and positioning fresh military equipment, including artillery pieces there. A day after the Israeli raid, gunmen from the Lebanese side reportedly shot dead a soldier who was part of an Israeli patrol. The Hizbollah group, which has close ties with Syria and Iran, however, denied involvement in the attack. Nevertheless, a defiant Syrian President, Bashar Assad, said in an interview published on Tuesday in the Al Hayat daily that the Syrian Government should not be construed as toothless as it was not "without cards" of its own. Asked to comment on accusations by the United States that Syria supported terrorists and had allowed fighters to cross into Iraq, Mr. Assad said: "We are not a superpower, but we are not a weak state either. We're not a country without cards ... We are not a state that can be ignored in the issues under discussion." Israel has been unhappy about Syrian and Iranian support to Hizbollah, whose forces were mainly responsible for the end of Israel's 18-year occupation of parts of southern Lebanon three years ago. Hizbollah's success against the Israeli forces apparently spurred the take-off of the second Palestinian Intifada around the same time. In Syria, Hizbollah is seen as the defender of Lebanese sovereignty and back-up Syrian troops have also been positioned inside Lebanon. Mr. Assad in his interview noted, "There is no doubt that Syria's role in various issues in our region is painful for this (Israeli) Government." Aware of Syria and Iran's capability to influence events along the Israel-Lebanon border, the commander of Israel's northern corps warned on Monday, "We are speaking of very dangerous moves by Syria, Iran and Lebanon, and if these three states are not careful, the situation is likely to deteriorate." An unnamed official told Israel Radio on Tuesday that if Damascus failed to grasp the message conveyed by the Israeli air strike of curtailing support to terrorist groups, it would be a target for further attacks. Mr. Assad, in his interview, accused Israel of attempting to widen the conflict with the Palestinians by dragging in Syria and the rest of West Asia within its ambit. To a question, he clarified that Syria had not fulfilled Washington's demand to deport wanted Palestinians from its soil. "Naturally, we refused for several reasons, primarily because these people did not break Syrian laws and have not harmed Syrian interests and are not terrorists.'' Mr. Assad also denied the U.S. charge that Syria was not doing enough to stop militants from crossing over into Iraq.
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