Israel hints of military action against Syria

Israel ratcheted up its rhetoric against Syria today, hinting of possible military action following this week’s suicide bombing of two buses in southern Israel.

Israeli officials repeatedly have accused Syria of backing the Hamas militants who carried out Tuesday’s attack, which killed 16 people in Beersheba, 15 miles south of the West Bank. The Hamas leadership is based in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

“Syria is responsible for acts of terror and giving patronage to terror groups,” Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today. “When we see Syria as responsible, it of course has to understand that this kind of thing will have very clear consequences for it.”

Security sources said Israeli leaders have not begun discussing possible military actions against Syria and analysts said the two countries are not likely to go to war any time soon.

But Israeli officials are warning that they might move against Hamas leaders in Syria. The Damascus-based leadership’s influence has grown following Israel’s assassination of top Hamas leaders in Gaza.

Hamas’ overall leader, Khaled Mashaal, who escaped an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997, lives in Damascus and could be targeted again.

Raanan Gissin, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, warned that Mashaal and other Hamas leaders “will enjoy no immunity”.

In Damascus, a Syrian official denied the presence of training centres for Palestinian militants. Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said threats against Syria were unjustified and would “worsen the already aggravated situation in the region”.