Israel threatens to strike Syria after bus blasts

AFP - 9/2/2004 4:58:00 PM GMT

Israel threatened to launch a military attack against Syria, accusing Damascus of being directly involved in the twin bus blasts in Southern Israel last Tuesday.

As Israel's top diplomats pressed their case that Damascus should pay the price for sheltering Hamas leaders, deputy defense minister Zeev Boim said that a strike on Syrian targets could be imminent.

"It is possible to launch operations, provided that the targets are well chosen and that the moment is right, in order to make the Syrians understand that there are red lines that cannot be crossed," Zeev Boim said.

Boim was reacting to comments by the chairman of parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, Yuval Steinitz, who proposed "to attack Syrian targets, especially in Lebanon, despite the risk of a flare-up on the northern border."

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had earlier claimed that Syria “is responsible for terrorist acts against us because this country is home of the headquarters of terrorist organizations and orders to carry out these attacks are given in Damascus."

Syria "must understand that this policy will have clear consequences... if we believe that Damascus has crossed a red line we will act," he added.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks. Hamas senior leader, Khaled Meshaal, lives in Damascus.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s official spokesman, Raanan Gissin, claimed that "the order for the terrorist attacks comes directly from Khaled Meshaal's bureau based in Damascus."

Israel responded to the twin attacks with an air raid on an alleged Palestinian resistance fighters’ training camp deep inside Syria.

In 1997, Meshaal was the target of a failed assassination attempt by Israeli agents in Jordan. He emerged as an undisputed leader earlier this year after Hamas' co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdelaziz Rantissi were both assassinated in Israeli air strikes.

Besides the military action threats, Israeli diplomats are intensifying their efforts to convince other governments of the direct ties between Hamas and Syria.

Danny Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, is to present Bush administration officials with intelligence information on the links between Hamas and Damascus while Shalom was expected to press the same message at talks with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

While officials were setting their sights on Damascus, the army also launched strikes in Hamas' traditional Gaza Strip stronghold.

Israeli occupation forces blew up two large apartment blocks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, destroying the homes of hundreds of Palestinians.

The army, carrying out its biggest Gaza incursion in weeks, claimed that the operation in the Khan Younis refugee camp targeted twin five-storey buildings used by Palestinian fighters.

"We strongly condemn the Israeli aggression...against our people in Khan Younis," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters, adding that this would bring an escalation of violence.

International rights groups condemn Israel's demolition of Palestinian houses as collective punishment. Israel claims that it is acting in self-defense against fighters.

Raid on Refugee Camp

Israeli forces launched another raid on Khan Younis late on Wednesday with missile strikes that injured six Palestinians, witnesses said.

Also, Israeli occupation troops surrounded 10 apartment buildings overlooking the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim and ordered all 150 families to evacuate. Many sought refuge at a local hospital.

"The children were crying and screaming... The army did not give us a chance to take anything, they said 'Just go'," said Ali Khalaf-Allah, a resident of one of the buildings.

Explosives experts then set charges in two of the buildings that blew them up. Witnesses said about 300 people were left homeless.

Smoke drifted over the ruins after the pre-dawn blasts. A nearby mosque was badly damaged by tank shells, witnesses said.