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Israel Kills Three Syrian Soldiers In Lebanon
BEIRUT, April 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli warplanes pounded a Syrian radar station in Lebanon early Monday, killing three Syrian soldiers and injuring six, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's hardline government vowed to play tough against attacks on all fronts.
The strike east of Beirut - Israel's first direct targeting of the Syrian army since its 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the first action against the Syrian army in Lebanon since 1996 - came just hours before a rare visit to Israel by Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib, who condemned the raid at a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres.
Khatib, the first ranking Arab official in Israel since Sharon took office March 7th, denounced the strike as "an unjustified escalation that may affect the overall stability and security in the region."
And amid the tension, plans were in doubt for another round of top-level Israeli-Palestinian security talks to put an end to six months of deadly violence, with the Palestinians saying no preparations were underway to attend a U.S.-sponsored meeting Monday.
Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin said the Lebanon raid, ordered after an attack Saturday by the Syrian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah that killed an Israeli soldier, showed the Jewish state's resolve under Sharon.
"Last night's attack was a very clear signal to Syria that the rules of the game are changing and that Israel will exact the price from those who allow such attacks to take place," Gissin said. "Syria and the Palestinians must understand that there is a new government in Israel and that the rules of the game have changed," he added to AFP.
Peres, who at a cabinet meeting reportedly opposed the raid as "ill-timed," said the move was a signal "to the Syrians in Lebanon, who did not allow the Lebanese army to deploy in southern Lebanon and prevent Hezbollah from firing on Israel."
But Lebanese President Emile Lahoud warned that the raid by Sharon, despised in Lebanon for orchestrating the 1982 invasion of the country as Israel's defense minister, "could lead to a general confrontation."
"This is a dangerous development expressing, again, the bloody method of 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.
"Israel would be held responsible for the grave consequences of the new aggression which will not deter Lebanon from continuing all the steps and measures in order to liberate the Shebaa Farms, return the Palestinians to their land and brings back Lebanese prisoners from Israeli jails," Lahoud's statement continued.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri said Israel's military action was "a dangerous attack on both Syria and Lebanon."
Official media in Syria, which maintains 35,000 troops in Lebanon where it is the main powerbroker, condemned the raid as a "dangerous escalation liable to destabilize the region.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara, on an official visit in Moscow, said the strike was "a gross violation" of international law.
The state SANA news agency, quoting an unnamed government official, said Syria "reserves the right to defend itself against all aggression."
Palestinian officials also condemned the Israeli attack with a spokesman for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Nabil Aburdeneh, saying, "We completely condemn and criticize the Israeli aggression on south Lebanon and the killing of the three Syrian soldiers."
"I warn of the ramifications of this Israeli escalation that could lead the region into more and more violence."
But U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Satterfield said Hezbollah was to blame for the raid by its "deliberate provocative attacks" on Israel and called on all sides to exercise "maximum restraint."
A Syrian radar station was bombarded at Dhar al Baydar, 45 kilometers (27 miles) east of Beirut near the Syrian border, said officials in Shtaura in Lebanon's Bekaa region.
Syrian anti-aircraft batteries went into action for 15 minutes, but the Israeli army said all the warplanes had returned safely to their bases.
Later Monday, Israeli fighter-bombers broke the sound barrier over Beirut and southern regions, according to Lebanese police.
Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon on May 24, 2000, due to continued pressure from Hezbollah. However, Israel continues to hold onto an area called Shebaa Farms, a triangle of land at the foot of the Golan Heights bordered by Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Syria and Lebanon say the land belongs to Lebanon, and that until it is returned, Israel has not complied with its promise to withdraw from Lebanon.
According to CNN, since Israel's pullout from Lebanon, there have been eight attacks by Hezbollah on the Israeli army at the border in which three Israeli soldiers have been killed, and three soldiers and one Israeli civilian have been taken prisoner.
Regarding security talks with the Palestinians, Sharon's spokesman said Israel had not been informed of any Palestinian intention not to attend the meeting scheduled for Monday evening.
Gaza Strip general security chief Abdel Razeq al-Majeida had told Voice of Palestine radio: "So far, we are not informed on the meeting and there are no preparations for it."
The two sides held their last security meeting Wednesday, after which the Palestinians said Israel had pledged to take measures to ease the blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But Gissin said Sunday that Sharon was taking no steps to ease the blockade.
"Israel has always linked an easing of the blockade to a drop in violence, but we can see nothing of the sort over these past few days," the prime minister's spokesman said.
Violence continued Monday in the occupied territories, where an activist from Arafat's Fatah faction was shot and injured by an Israeli sniper, Palestinian police said.
Abdel Hadi al-Natchi, who residents said had been wanted by Israel for several years, was shot in the divided West Bank city of Hebron as he was about to get into his car.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority confirmed it had released Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, number one on Israel's most wanted list, but said he remained under its "control".
"He is being held for Palestinian security reasons under a form of house arrest. He is not free and he can go back to prison any time we feel it is necessary," Samir Rantissi, a senior media advisor to Yasser Arafat's self-rule authority, told AFP.
Deif, head of Hamas's armed wing the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, is wanted by Israel as the suspected mastermind of a string of bombings in 1996 and 1997 that killed dozens of Israelis.
On Sunday, eight Palestinians were injured in scattered violence, including a six-year-old girl and a 65-year-old woman.
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