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Israel Strikes Alleged Jihad Base "Inside Syrian Territory"
Additional
Reporting By Mostafa al-Sawaf, IOL Correspondent
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – While
all attention was focused on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and
leading Palestinian resistance leaders as possible targets of Israeli
retaliation for the Haifa bombing, Israeli warplanes mounted an air
strike on a target "deep inside Syrian territory".
In
a statement released early Sunday, October 5, the Israeli occupation
army said the overnight attack was aimed at a camp close to the border
between Syria, Israel and Lebanon which was allegedly used to train
fighters from the Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the Haifa
operation.
"The
Islamic Jihad, like other terror organizations...enjoys the support
and backing of countries in the region - foremost Iran and
Syria," the army claimed.
"Syria
is a country that sponsors terror and constantly tries to sabotage any
attempt to achieve quiet and stability in the region," it
alleged.
Refugee
Camp
Speaking
to IslamOnline.net over the phone from Syria, Palestinian sources said
the Israeli air strike hit a Palestinian refugee camp in Ain as-Saheb
area, some 25 kilometers from the Syrian capital Damascus.
"It
is a deserted place that was once populated by Palestinian families
before they were taken into a refugee camp inside Syria," they
asserted, adding it is located near the Lebanese border town of
Baalbek.
For
its part, the Islamic Jihad repudiated the Israeli allegations about a
military training camp or fighters in Syria.
"Jihad
has no fighters outside the Palestinian territories," the
organization's Beirut-based spokesman, Abu Imad Rifai, told Al-Jazeera
TV.
"What
is certain is that we don't have any base or fighters in Syria, where
our activities are limited to our media battle," he added.
Syrian
political analyst Emad Shoaibi also told the Qatar-based television
the Israeli air strike targeted a Palestinian refugee camp.
He
denied there were any training camps or even media representation of
the Palestinian resistance faction in Syria.
The
expert charged that Israel was playing with fire and trying to drag
Syria into a confrontation.
This
is believed to be the first time since the 1982 Israeli invasion of
Lebanon that Israeli forces have struck targets deep inside Syrian
territory, said Haaretz.
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