TEL AVIV Ñ The United States blocked a major military offensive by Israel against
Syria last month, but shares Israeli concerns that the regime of Syrian President Bashar
Assad is openly arming Hizbullah and Palestinian militants.
Israeli officials said the attack was to have taken place last month in
response to a spate of Hizbullah strikes along the Lebanese border with the
Jewish state. The officials said Israel's military had mobilized its
reserves for what they termed was to have been a heavy blow on Syrian
military positions in Lebanon and Syria, Middle East Newsline reported.
On Monday, the Qatari daily Al Sharq, quoting Hizbullah sources,
reported that Israeli Mossad agents in cooperation with the United States
tried to assassinate Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah on June 6 in Beirut.
But the plan was foiled when Nasrallah stayed home from an Islamic
conference scheduled that day because of the flu.
"Only international intervention and somebody up there recovered and
saved them from a harsh military blow," David Magen, chairman of the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said.
Magen said that for months Israel had been concerned over Syria's
support for Hizbullah and its aim to open a second military front with
Israel. The parliamentary committee chairman said Syrian President Bashar
Assad ignored previous Israeli warnings and openly allowed Iran to arm
Hizbullah and Palestinian insurgency groups based in Damascus.
Officials said the turning point for Syria came during a weekend visit
by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to Damascus in April. They said
Powell warned Assad that Israel was preparing a massive attack on Syria and
that Washington would not restrain the Jewish state.
Magen said Israeli military and political leaders appear baffled by
Assad's willingness to escalate tension. He said many attribute this to the
inexperience by the new president.
"He doesn't know that military defeat is," Magen said. "Maybe when he
does know he will think differently. When he was asked to lower tension, he
did exactly the opposite."
"We're asking all the parties to use their influence on Hizbullah to get
Hizbullah to stop attacking Israel," State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said on Monday. "We're asking people to prevent things, not to
supply weapons, not to allow the supply of weapons, not to encourage and
support Hizbullah in carrying out attacks on Israel."
Officials said tensions still remain high along Israel's border with
Lebanon. They said U.S. diplomats repeated warnings to Lebanon and Syria
over the weekend in wake of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's meeting with
President George Bush. The two men discussed the prospect of outbreak of
conflict in Lebanon or Syria.
