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Syria warns Israel against repeating strike

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA Oct. 11. Syria today warned Israel that it had to the right to exercise "self-defence" in case Israel repeated attacking its territory as it did last Sunday. "In case of a repetition (of an Israeli aggression) Syria has the right to exercise self-defence," Syria's foreign ministry spokesperson, Bushra Kanafani told a press briefing in Damascus. Israel had raided a site, which it alleged was being used for training Palestinian extremists, just 15 km from Damascus in the wake of the suicide bombing in Haifa in northern Israel that killed 20 people.

Syria maintains that last Sunday's air raid was on a civilian area and that the offices of Palestinian factions in Syria only performed media functions. In Syria, the view that is gaining ground is that Israel and the United States are working together to increase pressure on it. Syria's chief Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Kuftaro, said on Friday that Israel would not have targeted Syria, had it not received U.S. backing.

Three days after the air raid, a committee of the U.S. Congress approved a legislation to impose sanctions on Syria, after accusing Damascus of sponsoring terrorists, seeking weapons of mass destruction and occupying Lebanon with more than 20,000 troops. Syria's warning to Israel on Saturday was preceded by a virtual ultimatum by the chief of Hizbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, that his organisation would not remain passive in case Israel attacked Syria or Lebanon again. "If (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon attacks Lebanon and Syria, we will definitely be faced with a new challenge," Sheikh Nasrallah said at a rally on Friday south of Beirut.

"We will be obliged to confront him in Lebanon... The only choice for us is to defend our country." Sheikh Nasrallah described last week's Israeli air strike inside Syria — the first in three decades — as "a very grave development."

The Hizbollah group, which is mainly comprised of Shias, has close links with Syria and Iran. It was mainly responsible for the Israeli retreat from southern Lebanon after 18 years of occupation in 2000.

The possible U.S. legislation to impose sanctions on Syria under the Syria Accountability Act is unlikely to have a major economic impact as U.S.-Syrian annual trade notches up approximately $300 millions. But politically, it would symbolise a deteriorating relationship between Damascus and Washington.

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