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 War Special: US prepares for strike by Hezbollah

Daily Times: Tony Allen-Mills

04/21/03

WASHINGTON: American military planners have been told to draw up options for possible retaliatory action against Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups in the event of suicide attacks on US forces in Iraq, according to official sources in Washington. Intelligence specialists have concluded that the greatest threat to US military bases in Iraq may come from groups operating out of Syria.

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, is expected to warn Damascus that Washington will no longer tolerate the use of Syrian-controlled territory as a “safe haven” for terror groups. US officials said last week they had already acquired evidence that Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim group based in southern Lebanon, plans to attack embassies and other American targets in the region.

Powell said he intended to visit Syria soon as part of a “very vigorous diplomatic exchange” that has so far focused on American complaints that Damascus has been harbouring high-ranking Iraqi fugitives and has been developing chemical weapons.

At least seven senior Iraqis were yesterday reported to be hiding in Syria, among them Kamal al-Tikriti, a senior Republican Guard commander who is number eight on the Pentagon’s most wanted list.

Amid speculation that President George W Bush was adding Syria to his “axis of evil” — making it a candidate for enforced regime change — there were signs of a climbdown in Damascus as Syrian officials welcomed Powell’s planned visit. Diplomatic talks were “much quieter and much more constructive” than public accusations, said the Syrian foreign ministry.

It was also reported that Syria had assisted in the arrest of Jaffar al-Jaffer, head of Iraq’s nuclear programme, who surrendered to US forces last week. But Damascus has not yet responded to American demands that other Iraqi leaders be expelled. Alongside al-Tikriti, Iraqi fugitives in Syria are believed to include Farouk Hijazi, a former official in the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, and Saddam Hussein’s first wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah.

Syrian officials made it clear they were not planning any radical action against Hezbollah or other terror groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which maintain offices in Damascus.

Israel has warned Washington that any of these groups may attempt to disrupt negotiations over a promised American “road map” that could ultimately lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. But Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, the son of Hafez al-Assad, the late Syrian president, appears to have a closer relationship with Hezbollah than his father. Encouraged by their victory in Iraq, hawks close to the Bush administration are now pressing for a crackdown on Syria to isolate Islamic radicals.

The looming showdown is heightening concern that either side could provoke an incident that might spiral into war. If Hezbollah concludes that its days in Lebanon’s Beka’a valley are numbered, it might try to provoke an American military attack on Damascus as a means of igniting international outrage.

“The opportunities for mischief-making that might make a pretext for escalation have just multiplied enormously,” said John Pike, a military specialist with globalsecurity.org, a Washington think tank.

The influx of American troops had presented the region’s terrorists with “a target-rich environment”, Pike said. Anti-American operations might include border incursions by Hezbollah guerrillas or groups operating out of Iran, and car or truck bomb attacks on US targets in Baghdad. Other sources said that if Hezbollah went on the offensive, the Pentagon would respond in kind. —Sunday Times

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