JERUSALEM - Bolstered by U.S. support for Israel's bombing raid in Syria, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday his nation won't hesitate to attack its enemies anywhere - heightening concerns it may widen the Palestinian conflict by again striking countries it accuses of harboring terrorists.
Since the attack on the reputed Islamic Jihad training camp in Syria on Sunday, the regional conflict has already escalated with shooting and mortar fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon, where Syria is the main power-broker.
An Israeli staff sergeant who also held U.S. citizenship was killed Monday in a shooting Israel blamed on Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group that is backed by Syria and predominantly Shiite Iran. The Israeli military said it raised its state of readiness on the Lebanese border yesterday because of the increased tension.
Sharon's vow to pursue militants wherever they are also came after Israel accused Syria and Iran of providing key backing to Islamic Jihad, the militant group that claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 19 people in the Israeli port city of Haifa on Saturday.
Israel will not be deterred from protecting its citizens and will strike its enemies in every place and in every way
Sharon said, emphasizing that Israel must prepare as if the next war is waiting just around the corner.
We are not immune to surprises he said at a memorial service for Israeli soldiers killed during the 1973 Middle East war with Syria and Egypt. Only if we are forever ready will we reach peace and we will reach it.
President Bush said yesterday the Israeli airstrike, the first Israeli attack deep into Syria in three decades, was part of an essential campaign to defend the country, and drew a parallel between Sharon's actions and U.S. policy on terrorism.
The decisions he makes to defend (Israel's) people are valid decisions
Bush said. We would be doing the same thing.
But Bush's supportive remarks came with a note of caution that Sharon should be wary of creating the conditions necessary for more violence and fully understand the consequences of any decision.
Syria has denied having any Islamic Jihad bases, and President Bashar Assad said the raid was an Israeli attempt to provoke war.
There is no doubt that the role Syria plays in the various issues in our region is painful to this (Israeli) government. What happened (on Sunday) was a failed Israeli attempt to undercut this role
Assad said, according to a story yesterday in the London-based newspaper Al Hayat.
We can
with full confidence
say that what happened will only make Syria's role more effective and influential in events in the region
contrary to what this (Israeli) government wants
Assad was quoted as saying.
Some within Israel were critical of the airstrike, fearing it could broaden the conflict to engulf the whole region.
The Israeli daily Haaretz wrote in an editorial that the attack could put Israel on a steep and slippery slope to increased tensions with Syria.
Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, said the raid signaled a sharp escalation in the conflict, and he questioned its wisdom.
As of now
this was a solitary act
a sort of signal to Damascus and behind Damascus to Tehran
