Israel hints at military action against Syria

This week’s suicide attack in southern Israel has sparked a war of words between Israel and Syria and increased pressure to finish the West Bank barrier that many Israelis believe saves lives, regardless of international condemnation.

Also yesterday, four Palestinians were killed in a Gaza town in clashes after Israeli forces found a tunnel leading to a Jewish settlement.

Meanwhile, declining to step into a war of words between Israel and Syria, the US said yesterday that it was not discussing with Israel any possible military against Hamas leaders in Damascus.

“Israel has a right to defend itself, and they don’t come to us and we don’t approve Israeli military operations,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“That’s not a subject of discussion,” he replied when asked if the Bush administration was concerned that Israel might move against Syria.

First of all, Boucher said, Israel has a right to defend itself. And, he said, the US is concerned about Syria’s support for various groups.

There were no calls for restraint from the administration.

As Israel mourned its 16 dead from Tuesday’s twin bus bombings in Beersheba claimed by Hamas militants, officials ratcheted up their rhetoric against Syria, hinting at possible military action.

Syria and Hamas, apparently fearful of an Israeli strike, accused Israel of trying to aggravate tensions in the Middle East.

Although no Israeli strike appeared imminent – security officials haven’t even begun discussing the possibility – the heated rhetoric underscored Israel’s growing impatience with Syrian support for Palestinian militants.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Israeli president that Tuesday’s bus bombings – the deadliest attack in Israel in nearly a year – were carried out on direct orders from Hamas leaders in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

A senior adviser to Sharon, Raanan Gissin, warned that neither Hamas nor Syria, which is now home to the Hamas top leadership, are “immune” to an Israeli strike.

And Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom warned that Syria’s support for terrorists “will have very clear consequences.”

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was quoted as saying the threats would “worsen the already aggravated situation in the region.” Ahmed Haj Ali, an adviser to the Syrian information minister, said Syria is taking the Israeli threats “seriously.”

Hamas issued its own statement from Damascus, accusing Israel of trying to provoke a confrontation and insisting that its actions against Israelis are planned and executed from the Palestinian territories, not Syria.

Israel last struck a target inside Syria on October 5, 2003, when its planes bombed a training camp belonging to Islamic Jihad outside Damascus.

Israel’s most obvious target in Syria today would be Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.

Israel has held Syria partly responsible for years of Hezbollah raids from Lebanon, where Syria maintains a large military presence. In practice, however, Israel has been hesitant to clash with Syria, and the border has been calm for decades.