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Israel blames Syria for crisis
04/07/2006 15:01 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israel on Tuesday stepped up the pressure on arch-foe Damascus, accusing it of supporting Palestinian militants behind the capture of an Israeli soldier that has sparked a new crisis in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered security forces to pursue military operations against the militants and those who command and shelter them, in a thinly veiled reference to Damascus.
"I gave the order to continue operations to strike terrorists, those who protect them and those who give them orders," he told a meeting of business leaders in the southern city of Beersheva.
"We will hit all terrorists. No one who attempts to harm the state of Israel will be spared," he said.
Israel has threatened to kill Hamas leaders based in Damascus and repeatedly demanded Syria take responsibility for sheltering Palestinian militants in the wake of the June 25 capture of its soldier on the Gaza border.
Deadline passed
The crisis threatened to boil over on Tuesday, as a deadline set by the soldier's Palestinian captors passed and Egyptian-led mediation appeared to have fallen flat as Israel again rejected any talks with "terrorists".
"We do not negotiate with terrorists. We act with all the necessary force but we do not give in to blackmail," Olmert said.
"We will not let anyone believe that the kidnapping is a means of sending Israel to its knees. If we give in today, numerous civilians will be the target of kidnappings because we will be sending a message that these methods pay."
Syria asked to expel militant leaders
On Monday, defence minister Amir Peretz warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that "all the responsibility falls on him".
His words were echoed by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who said after talks in Moscow that "Syria, which protects (Hamas) and grants asylum to its chiefs must understand that it can not escape responsibility for that".
Olmert has called for Syria to expel Palestinian militant leaders.
"The key to resolving the crisis is in Damascus since the directives and orders for terrorist actions originate there," he said earlier this week in a telephone conversation with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
"The Syrian leadership must dismantle the terrorist organisation command centres located in its territory," he added.
Home to exiled Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal, Damascus has shrugged off a stream of Israeli and US accusations as well as an Israeli jet flyover of a Syrian presidential palace last week.
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