Issue No. 592
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27 June - 3 July 2002 Issue No. 592 Region |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Damascus in the crosshairs
Israel is weighing up extending its military campaign in the West Bank beyond its northern borders to Syrian targets, writes Iason Athanasiadis
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering striking Syrian targets in the event that Hizbullah launches fresh attacks within northern Israel, according to Syrian and Israeli analysts. The indications that Israel's policy for its northern border is changing have been mounting since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returned from his recent trip to Washington.
Reports in the Israeli and international press have hinted that Israel is changing the rules of engagement in the region and is ready to target the Syrian military network in Lebanon in response to Hizbullah strikes on the country's north.
"The situation is very dangerous," says an informed Syrian source who requested anonymity. "Several signals indicate that Sharon wants to strike at Syria, both because he is feeling frustrated at not having guaranteed security for the Israelis and because the American 'campaign against terror' provides him with an ideal pretext for such a strike. We should also not lose sight of the fact that it is in Sharon's best interest to divert attention away from his inhuman acts against the Palestinians."
Eyal Zisser, a Syria specialist at the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern Studies in Tel Aviv, argues that "Washington is very upset with Syrian behaviour, but I do not think Sharon got a straight forward OK for a strike." He said that for him, it was clear that "Bashar does not want a war but he is influenced by Hizbullah. He does not see the danger in allowing them free rein to play with fire." Zisser believes that an Israeli strike against Syrian targets "will not achieve anything" but that "a country cannot accept that its civilians continue to be targeted". Therefore, whether Israel will strike or not "depends on the extent of future Hizbullah attacks".
The Bush administration has displayed an ambivalent attitude towards Syria, branding the state a junior member of the "axis of evil", even while working alongside it in countering terrorism after the 11 September attacks.
Statements made by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Sharaa while presiding over the UN Security Council in New York last week, and US Ambassador John Negroponte, were a perfect demonstration of the troubled relationship between the two countries. Syria is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council, representing Arab countries.
Negroponte accused Damascus of "supporting terrorist groups such as Hizbullah and Jihad" and demanded that it condemn Palestinian suicide bombings.
At a news conference on Friday, Al-Sharaa was asked about a Knight Ridder report that quoted Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad as saying his government provided intelligence to the United States three months ago about an Al-Qa'eda operation that would have killed many American soldiers.
"I am not going to confirm anything related to security, but I confirm the substance of what is written in the press about that -- that we have helped in rescuing American lives," Al-Sharaa said, speaking in English.
"We have done that because this is a matter of principle," he said. "We are against terrorism and ... the Americans know that we differentiate between terrorism, which we condemn by Al-Qa'eda, and the resistance which we support in the occupied [Palestinian] territories against [Israeli] occupation."
US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns told a House panel on Tuesday: "It is true that the cooperation the Syrians have provided, in their own self-interest, on Al-Qa'eda, has saved American lives."
Al-Sharaa said "differences" remain between Washington and Damascus. "They consider us to be wrong. We consider them to be wrong. The dialogue continues, and we are for continuing the dialogue," he said, adding that at his request a visit to Washington has been postponed.
Al-Sharaa vehemently denied that Syria supported terrorist organisations, saying it has taken in about 400,000 Palestinian refugees who have "the right to express their political opinion". He said Palestinian organisations don't operate from Syria although they have press offices there. "They don't cross the borders and don't have to do that because ... all operations by the Palestinians are engineered, planned and executed inside the occupied territories. Syria has nothing to do with all of these steps."
According to Zisser, the scope of an Israeli strike against Syria will largely hinge on "the nature of the Hizbullah attack and how many casualties Israel suffers". Should the Israeli strike be limited, "the Syrians might not retaliate at all". But should Israel pound Syrian positions, "the Syrians might let Hizbullah respond".
The Syrian source argues that "the root of the problem lies in the fact that Israel wants to annex about 22 per cent of the remaining Palestinian territories and hang on to the Syrian Golan Heights. It is a country that is afraid of peace and needs a permanently tense situation to preserve its identity and stop the disparate communities that Israeli society is composed of, from fragmenting."
Meanwhile, German and Arab intelligence sources have confirmed that Mohamed Haydar Zammar, an alleged key figure in the German Al-Qa'eda cell's planning for 11 September, has been held in secret detention in Syria. He was reportedly arrested in Morocco and then expelled to Damascus with US knowledge. Arab intelligence sources say the Syrian debriefing of Zammar, 41, is providing the US with critical information on the genesis of the 11 September plot as well as Al-Qa'eda's structure and possible plans for future attacks. However, the London-based Arabic daily, Al-Hayat, quoted "informed Syrian sources" on Monday as denying that Zammar was in Syria. The paper said that the Syrian Foreign Ministry informed the German Embassy in Damascus that it did not know anything about Zammar's whereabouts since he left Hamburg in October.
Zammar was summoned by German authorities for questioning last year, but he was released because no charges were made.
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