Israel braces for two-front war

TEL AVIV — Israel is preparing for a two-front war as Syria appears to have given the Hizbullah and its Palestinian allies the green light for attacks on the Lebanese border with the Jewish state.

Israeli defense officials said the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak assesses that Hizbullah will launch attacks together with an offensive by Palestinian Islamic groups. They said they have intelligence information of two Hamas squads that have infiltrated Israel in an attempt to launch terrorist attacks.

"There is an effort by more than one organization to carry out an attack in the heart of the country," Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said. "There are elements that want to draw us into a conflict in the territories and on the northern border."

The officials said Syria is allowing Hizbullah to attack Israel from the Lebanese border. They point to the increasing shooting attacks from Lebanon on Israeli soldiers. On Sunday, Israeli soldiers came under fire near Kibbutz Zarit. Nobody was injured.

"What worries us is that Syria does not fulfill a suitable role," Sneh said. "There are indications that it is acting differently. It could be because the situation in the Arab world, it does not have the motivation to stop this [Hizbullah attacks]."

Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah urged for greater attacks on Israel. Nasrallah said the Israeli policy of restraint was playing into the hands of the Palestinians.

"The enemy's options are narrow," Nasrallah said. "Either they invade the Palestinian territories and thus the peace process would collapse or wait for a long time and this is in the interests of the Palestinians who are more capable of patience."

On Monday, an Israeli security coordinator was wounded by Palestinian gunfire. Earlier, an Israeli officer was lightly injured in a bombing near the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip.

In eastern Jerusalem, two Israeli security guards were shot and critically injured. The guards were said to have been shot at close range outside a government office on Monday.

Israeli sources said the military has prepared a plan to launch an offensive against Hizbullah in Lebanon and the PA in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But the sources said Prime Minister Ehud Barak is under pressure from the United States to maintain restraint.

The sources said the military has been dismayed by Barak's policy. They said the army withdrew tanks from Jerusalem because Barak refused to allow them to respond to Palestinian gunfire by Tanzim fighters loyal to Arafat.

Barak has warned his Cabinet that a war would only prompt massive international pressure. "If we would have 400 or 1,000 dead Palestinians and more pictures of killed children, it doesn't help Israel at all and perhaps damages Israel," Barak said. "God forbid, that a tank shell should go astray as in Kafr Kanna."

The reference was to the 1996 shelling attack on a Hizbullah position that killed nearly 100 Lebanese civilians.

Barak appears to have been stung by the criticism from the military. On Monday, officials said the prime minister approved a plan to send commandos in the PA areas to attack gunmen loyal to Arafat. But the officials said any attack will require the approval of Barak, who is also defense minister.

On Sunday, Palestinians reported that seven people died in clashes with Israeli troops. The figures have been disputed by Israeli military sources.