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Israel warns it will attack Syria if violence follows withdrawal

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, April 18, 2000

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel confirmed yesterday it will pull its troops out of southern Lebanon by July, ending its 22-year occupation of a border area for securing its border. But for the first time, Israel also warned that Syria could be the next target of Israeli retaliatory attacks that stem from the violence in southern Lebanon.

Israeli officials said that in the wake of an Israeli withdrawal the government and military will establish new guidelines that will escalate retaliation for any attacks on the Jewish state from Lebanon and hold Syria responsible. Syria has 35,000 troops in Lebanon.

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh warned that Syria will be the target of Israeli attacks should Israeli soldiers be killed after a pullout. He said the attacks could lead to a military confrontation that would eventually renew peace talks with Damascus under new conditions.

"If, after all the things [pullout] that we will have done, Hizbullah, under Syrian auspices, will act against us, then we as government have to defend our citizens and soldiers," Sneh said. "We can't employ the type of responses that we had when we had the margins of the security zone in Lebanon. I said that we can't come to terms with this situation. Our response will be faster and harsher."

Foreign Minister David Levy was scheduled to meet French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Monday to discuss Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. France is taking a lead role in bolstering an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Plans for an Israeli withdrawal are being used to redraw guidelines in southern Lebanon, officials said. They said Prime Minister Ehud Barak and most ministers are no longer interested in the resumption of an international panel to monitor the fighting in Lebanon. The panel was to have stopped the use of civilians as either a target or shield in the fighting between Israel and Lebanese guerrillas.

The panel has not met since Feb. 11 amid Israeli charges that it has failed to restrain Hizbullah. "We do not plan to participate in further meetings of the committee unless terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah stop their attacks for at least two weeks," an Israeli military statement said. "As there has been no significant improvement of the situation on the ground, our position regarding the committee remains unchanged."

The army said Hizbullah attacks are running at a rate of four times that last year. Officials cited a Syrian decision to allow Hizbullah freedom of action in southern Lebanon.

In a related development, the High Court has turned down a request for an order to release 160 Lebanese detainees in Khiam in southern Lebanon. The court said it could not order something in a foreign country. The Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army operates Khiam.

On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Barak discussed a High Court decision to free 13 Lebanese detainees being held in Israel. Officials said Barak wants to declare the detainees prisoners of war so that they could remain in prison in exchange for Israelis believed being held in Lebanon or Syria.

Tuesday, April 18, 2000

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