Syria vows to respond directly to any Israel strike

Sun Jul 16, 12:14 PM ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria has warned it would respond directly and by all means necessary to any Israeli attack on its territory, in its first official reaction to Israel's offensive on neighboring Lebanon.

The warning coincided Sunday with a similar threat by Damascus's key ally Iran, and came amid rising fears that the Middle East is being dragged deeper into the spiraling conflict sparked by the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and militants linked to Hamas in Gaza.

"Any Israeli attack against Syria will provoke an unlimited, direct and firm response using all means necessary," Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told the official SANA news agency.

Bilal accused Israel of "state terrorism" and "operating above the law ... ignoring UN Security Council resolutions" and sabotaging efforts toward Middle East peace, as he vowed Syria's support for Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement.

"Syria supports the national Lebanese resistance against Israeli aggression. The resistance will triumph and Israel will be conquered," he said, using a term that refers to Hezbollah.

"Resistance is a legitimate and sacred right," he added, saying it was necessary to "make a distinction between resistance and terrorism".

A coalition of Syrian political parties led by the ruling Baath party echoed Bilal's comments and announced a series of measures aimed at "supporting the Lebanese people's resistance" against Israel.

Damascus will arrange "facilities" for those Lebanese who wish to reside in Syria or pass through the country, send medical and food aid to Lebanon and "contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the barbaric Israeli raids", the National Progressive Front said.

Tehran also warned arch-enemy Israel of "unimaginable losses" if it makes "the mistake of attacking Syria" and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people.

Israel said one of the rockets fired Sunday by Hezbollah guerrillas on Israel's third-largest city of Haifa, killing eight people, may have been Syrian-made.

"There is a possibility that one of the rockets was made in Syria," a senior military official told reporters following the deadliest cross-border attack in decades.

"Maybe Hezbollah wants to involve Syria in this mess," he said. "It could be a big advantage for Hezbollah to open a third front against Israel."

Israel had said a day earlier that Syria was not a target in its offensive, after firing rockets on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Damascus denied its territory had actually been hit.

The escalating Middle East conflict is central to discussions at a G8 summit of world leaders in Saint Petersburg, and Russia has warned of a "real threat" that the Middle East crisis could widen.

Syria's official media on Sunday denounced "the silence" of Arab countries amid the deadly Israeli offensive in Lebanon, launched Wednesday after two soldiers were captured by militants from Hezbollah.

"Silence has become the ideal reaction for Arab regimes when they find nothing to say that will satisfy their grand masters," the state daily Ath-Thawra said.

"Those who have expressed doubts over the actions of the resistance are in one way or another implicated in the (Israeli) aggression against Beirut and Gaza."

The newspaper was referring to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan which indirectly criticized Hezbollah for "adventurism" in provoking Israel's onslaught on Lebanon and putting all Arab nations at risk.

Another Syrian government daily, Tishrin, accused Israel and the United States of waging war in order to gain total control over the region.

"After having achieved Iraq's destruction and sabotaged all efforts to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict and find a just peace in the region, the US administration has given its green light to the Israeli government of (Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert to burn down the region beginning with Gaza and Lebanon," Tishrin said.

"This is part of an Israeli-American plan for total hegemony in the region."

Syria, which backs but denies arming Hezbollah, which is also Iranian-backed, was the long-time powerbroker in Lebanon until an international outcry over the assassination of five-time premier Rafiq Hariri forced it to withdraw its troops last year.

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