Israel gives Syria a warning

2003-10-07 13:43

Jerusalem - Israel's vice-premier has warned Syria it could be the target of further attacks if it does not dismantle militant groups operating in Damascus.

Vice-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the security cabinet decided at a meeting on August 19 - following a Hamas bus bombing in which 23 people were killed - to target an Islamic Jihad training camp near Damascus, but postponed the air raid for operational reasons.

After an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in a Haifa restaurant on Saturday, in which 19 people were killed, the army said it was possible to carry out the operation near Damascus and Olmert said a forum of senior cabinet ministers, including him, had approved the air raid.

Israeli warplanes bombed the training camp - which apparently has been abandoned for some time - early on Sunday.

"We have no limitations regarding the targets and the goals so long as they are, in the end, connected to the terrorist acts," Olmert told Israel Radio.

"There is no (retaliation) too strong for these things that are done to us," Olmert added.

Raanan Gissin, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel's security cabinet decided after the August 19 bus bombing that "there would be no limitations, not even geographic, to get the leadership or the infrastructure of the terrorist groups".

Palace windows shattered

"The Syrians have a choice... they can remove, dismantle the bases of the terrorist organisations in their midst or suffer the consequences of having these organisations and groups operating from Damascus," Gissin said. "There is no more immunity."

The Israeli air raid came after two clear messages that Israel meant business, Gissin said.

The first message came shortly after the Iraq war when United States secretary of state Colin Powell gave Syrian President Bashar Assad an Israeli demand that Damascus remove the militant groups operating in Syria, he said.

Later, Israeli warplanes flew over Assad's summer palace in Latakia, Gissin said. The warplanes reportedly flew so low that windows in the palace shattered.

Now, Israel wanted to send a message to the militant groups and to Assad, Gissin said.

"We hope the Syrians will sober up and realise that what they are doing is endangering them," Gissin said. "Hopefully, Assad will get the message."

- AP