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Damascus Promises Revenge For Israeli Attack
DAMASCUS, April 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As the United States condemned what it called a "dangerous escalation" in Middle East violence, blaming Hezbollah for provoking Israeli air strikes on a Syrian target in Lebanon, Syria promised revenge Monday against Israel for its air raid, killing at least one soldier and injuring four others.
"Israel has made a huge mistake with this aggression and it will pay the price very dearly for it at the right moment," Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said according to the official SANA agency reporting a declaration he made in Moscow, where he arrived Monday to deliver a message from President Bashar al-Assad to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"Through its aggressive acts, Israel has widened the area of tension and instability in the Middle East ... it is in the process of killing the peace process," he said and called the raid "a gross violation" of international law.
A Syrian radar station and anti-aircraft defense system were bombarded at Dhar al Baydar, 45 kilometers (27 miles) east of Beirut near the Syrian border early Monday morning.
The raid was the first deliberate attack by Israel upon Syrian forces since 1982 and the first to hit a Syrian position in Lebanon for five years. Syria has deployed troops in Lebanon since 1976 and currently maintains some 35,000 troops there.
The state media reported one soldier dead and four others injured, although Lebanese security forces said two soldiers were killed and five others wounded.
Before news of the raids, Syria's official newspaper Tishrin had warned the country was ready to make "the greatest sacrifices" against Israel.
"Since this aggressive entity was created with the support of hostile colonialist forces, our people have been pursuing their struggle and heroic battle, sacrificing thousands of martyrs in Palestine, on the Golan [Heights] and in Lebanon, and on every Arab side subjected to occupation or colonialism," Tishrin said.
Meanwhile, SANA reported numerous demonstrations and voices of support, notably from Hezbollah and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
"This is a dangerous development expressing, again, the bloody method of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon since he came to power, whether on the Palestinian scene or outside," Lahoud said in a statement following a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"This method could lead to a general confrontation," he said.
Since the attack, there have been troop movements in the country and Syrian soldiers in Lebanon have been put on a state of high alert.
Ten Palestinian organizations based in Damascus denounced the raids as "part of the criminal Zionist plan elaborated by Sharon against our people."
Syrian intellectuals, who have called for Syria's ruling Baath party to introduce greater political freedom, railed against Israel in a statement, calling the raid a "Zionist aggression" and urging the bolstering of "national unity between Syria and Lebanon."
The Israeli bombardment came after Hezbollah on Saturday killed an Israeli soldier in Shebaa Farms, a disputed border territory with Israel. Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, is seen as Hezbollah's chief sponsor along with Iran.
Since the Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, ending a 22-year occupation, Hezbollah has captured three Israeli soldiers and killed three others in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.
Israel captured the disputed mountainous area from Syria, along with the nearby Syrian Golan Heights, in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The area is claimed by Lebanon, but Israel says it will only return the territory in a comprehensive agreement with Syria.
Hezbollah has kept up raids into the territory on the grounds that Israel still occupies Farms.
Syria says that Hezbollah attacks are legitimate since there is no comprehensive peace accord between Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, commenting on the escalation of violence, said, "In the last 48 hours we have seen a dangerous escalation across the withdrawal line that was established by the United Nations," referring to the so-called "Blue Line" that marks the Lebanese border.
"We condemn this escalation in the cycle of violence that was initiated by Hezbollah in a clear provocation designed to escalate an already tense situation," Boucher told reporters.
He called for "maximum restraint" from all sides and added that Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken with Sharon before the air strikes and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres afterwards.
Boucher responding evasively when asked whether Washington was condemning both the initial attack by Hezbollah on Saturday that killed an Israeli soldier and Israel's retaliatory response on the Syrian position that killed at least two troops.
He answered "Yes" when asked if the United States condemned the Hezbollah attack but when asked whether Washington also condemned the Israeli response, he replied that the United States condemned "the cycle of violence."
"We're condemning the overall violence that is occurring," Boucher said.
"What we saw was an unprovoked attack [by Hezbollah], a clear provocation that was designed to set off a cycle of violence and we think that's where the burden rests," he said.
A senior State Department official later ruled out any harsh public words or condemnation for Israel in its attack.
"We want to be fairly even-handed about this, but the fact is that Hezbollah started this," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"Israel was not bombing Syrian radars in Lebanon before Hezbollah was lobbing anti-tank missiles across the Blue Line," the official added.
But another senior U.S. official said Washington had made clear to Israel privately that it should keep its responses "in check".
"The Israeli action is serious and we would hope they would keep it in check," the second official said. "They are not going to solve the Hezbollah problem by hitting Syria. That will escalate the situation."
Boucher's call for restraint echoed remarks made earlier by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and in Beirut by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Satterfield.
Syria, as well as Lebanon, the Palestinians and others in the Arab world have protested vehemently against the strike and warned that it could lead to a regional war.
Meanwhile, European nations, including Britain, France and Germany, have expressed deep concern over the attack and the chance that it could lead to a serious deterioration.
Moscow said it was "extremely concerned" by the raid and feared it could further destabilize the region, Interfax news agency reported.
Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister, expressed deep concern about the situation and called for a halt too further violence.
"The German government is extraordinarily concerned about the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East. The existing situation there is very serious," said Fischer.
"A just and long term Middle East peace can only be reached through a cessation of the spiral of violence, moderation from all sides and a return to the negotiating table," he added.
Britain and France called for a return to peace negotiations and France said that the air strike was "deeply worrying."
"Due to the risk of an escalation in armed operations, we are urging all sides to behave responsibly to halt this vicious circle of events, and to refrain from any further violence," said the French Foreign Ministry in a statement.
Meanwhile, violence erupted anew in Israel and the Palestinian territories when Israeli troops raided an area under full Palestinian control in the northern Gaza Strip, destroying Palestinian border police positions with bulldozers, according to witnesses.
In a parallel attack, Israeli helicopter gunships struck the Palestinian locality of Dir el-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.
The offensive came after five mortar bombs were fired Monday night on the Israeli town of Sderot, to the east of the Gaza Strip.
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