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Israel Bombs Alleged Terror Base in Syria

By JAYSON KEYSER
Associated Press Writer

10/05/03: KATZRIN, Golan Heights (AP) -- Israel bombed a target inside Syria that it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base, striking deep inside its neighbor's territory Sunday for the first time in three decades and widening its pursuit of Palestinian militants.

The airstrike - a retaliation for a suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis - alarmed the Arab world and deepened concerns that three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence could spread through the region.

Washington urged both Israel and Syria to show restraint, as the U.N. Security Council and the 22-member Arab League called emergency sessions. Syria asked the council to consider measures to deter what it called Israeli "aggression."

The raid - launched just hours before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar - was a warning that Israel would strike at militants everywhere, the government said. Islamic Jihad denied it has training bases in Syria.

The strike also came on the eve of the anniversary of the 1973 war between Israel and Syria, when Israel fought off a Syrian attack aimed at reversing Israel's 1967 seizure of the Golan Heights, a strategic border plateau. Sunday marked Israel's first military action deep in Syria since 1973.

The Israeli attack at about 4:30 a.m. hit several targets at the Ein Saheb camp northwest of Damascus, Israeli security officials said. Hours later, plainclothes security officials banned journalists from approaching the camp. Dense trees blocked the site from view.

The base was financed by Iran and used by several terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said Raanan Gissin, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Undated footage of the camp, taken from Iranian TV and released by the Israeli military on Sunday, shows a military officer conducting a tour of the camp. Hundreds of weapons, including grenades with Hebrew markings apparently captured from Israel, were displayed in one room. Underground tunnels were packed with arms and ammunition.

Islamic Jihad's leader has offices in the Syrian capital, Damascus, but the group said all its military operations were inside the Palestinian territories.

Another group, the tiny Syrian-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said it once used the camp, 14 miles northwest of Damascus, but that it is now deserted. A guard was injured in the air strike, the group said.

However, a senior Popular Front member, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that there is close cooperation between his group, Islamic Jihad, the militant group Hamas, and the Lebanese guerrilla faction Hezbollah. All four train together, mostly in Lebanon, but also in Syria, he said.

In an understanding with the Syrian government, Hamas and Jihad leaders have been careful in recent months to give statements from Lebanon to avoid the impression that they still operate from Damascus.

Still, Syrian President Bashar Assad is on the defensive, with the United States accusing him of hosting extremist groups and sponsoring terror. The Bush administration also contends Syria is aggressively seeking to acquire and develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Assad, after meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell in May in Damascus, indicated that his government had closed certain offices of Palestinian militant groups. However, last weekend, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that "there is much more that Syria needs to do, and that message is being communicated to them."

Despite Syria's complaint to the United Nations, it seemed unlikely it would retaliate. Syria has 380,000 active duty soldiers and 520 combat aircraft, but Israel holds a commanding technological edge. Israel is more worried about its northern neighbor's growing missile program and its ability to launch chemical and poison weapons into Israel's cities.

After Sunday's air raid, Israel said it would strike at militants anywhere in the region. Avi Pazner, a government spokesman, said that any country harboring terrorists "will be responsible to answer for (its) actions."

Gissin said the air strike was a measured response. "We did not attack Syrian targets, but very specific camps used to train the terrorists," he said.

Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon - three Arab countries border Israel - condemned the air strike. "This is an aggression on an Arab brotherly country," said Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher. "It can drag the whole region into a circle of violence."

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also weighed in, saying the Israeli attack could destabilize the region even further.

President Bush on Sunday telephoned condolences to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for Saturday's suicide attack in the Mediterranean port city of Haifa, while Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon conferred with White House and State Department officials.

"We urge all sides to exercise restraint and to keep in mind the consequences of their actions," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing, in which a 27-year-old Palestinian woman wrapped in explosives blew herself up inside the beach-front restaurant Maxim, popular with both Arabs and Jews. Fifty-five people were wounded.

The bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, was a law school graduate from the West Bank town of Jenin whose brother and cousin - both militants, were killed in an Israeli army raid in June. Overnight, Israeli troops demolished the Jaradat family home in line with army practice.

Saturday's bombing raised the possibility that Israel might make good on a threat to "remove" Arafat, whom it blames for terrorist attacks even by groups he disavows.

The United States opposes expelling Arafat, and it appears Israel launched Sunday's air strike as an alternative response - at least for now. It was dramatic enough to satisfy the Israeli public's demand for retaliation but was unlikely to endanger Israel's ties with Washington.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press.