Israel attacks training base
2003-10-05 10:51
Jerusalem - Israel launched an overnight air strike on an Islamic Jihad training camp in Syria following a suicide attack by the radical Palestinian group in Haifa, military sources said on Sunday.
The attack was aimed at a camp close to the border between Syria, Israel and Lebanon which was also used to train fighters from the radical Islamic group Hamas, the sources added.
The camp has been authorised by Syria and financed by Iran, said the sources. After training, the fighters are sent to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prepare anti-Israeli attacks.
Israel radio said the attack hit the Ein Saher camp.
The attack came several hours after a Palestinian woman wrapped in explosives entered a beachside restaurant in Haifa during the busy lunchtime hour and blew herself up, killing 19 people.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Following the attack, the army has started operating against those behind the attack, those who support (terror) and those who use the strategy of terror in order to harm citizens of Israel," the army said in a statement.
Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group responsible for many attacks against Israel, enjoys support from other countries, including Iran and Syria, the statement said.
"Syria is a state that supports terror, that constantly tries to frustrate efforts to bring calm and stability to the region and gives cover in its territory and capital to the terror organizations that act against Israeli citizens," the army said.
"Israel will not accept the rules of the game that the terrorists are trying to dictate, and will act with determination against all who harm its citizens, in accordance with the right to self defense and defense of the state," it said.
In 2001, Israeli warplanes blasted a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power broker, killing three Syrian soldiers.
That strike was the first in five years against the Syrian military, and came in retaliation for an attack by Syrian-backed guerrillas in which an Israeli soldier was killed.
- AP