From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 1997 12:27 AM To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup Subject: A Soon Israel and Syria War? Part I
>From Steve Cope To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com Subject: News
> > NEWS QUOTES FROM > ARTICLES BELOW: > ---------------------------------- > > Syria has begun preparations for a possible > surprise attack on Israel using missiles armed with chemical > warheads, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported Friday. > > FROM: > > Agence France Presse > September 12, 1997 12:07 GMT > > "Syria preparing option of surprise > chemical attack on Israel: report" > > ---------------------------------- > > It was confirmed in a recent statement by Lt. Gen. > Amnon Shahak, Israel's chief of staff, who painted a grim > scenario similar to the surprise Syrian attack over the > Golan Heights in 1973. This time, he indicated, such a > thrust would be accompanied by missile attacks. > > "We have a number of sensors and we know that not only > the Syrian leaders are talking about the possibility of war > with Israel," he told Israeli journalists. "What we know is > that they are talking about a surprise attack." > > FROM: > > The Washington Times > July 5, 1997, Saturday, Final Edition > > "Syrian moves worry Israelis; > Buildup includes troops, missiles" > > ---------------------------------- > > In June, Uzi Arad, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, was > telling the leaders of the powerful American-Israeli lobby > group AIPAC that they should do everything possible to > resist congressional calls for a cut in US financial > assistance to Israel, because Israel was likely to take > "decisive and fateful decisions" that would "place Israel in > a delicate security situation". > > FROM: > > The Independent (London) > August 3, 1997, Sunday > > "Ticking towards disaster; > The West is ignoring all the signs that the > Middle East is about to explode, says Robert Fisk" > > ---------------------------------- > > Israel could try to broaden the conflict (in Southern > Lebanon) to include Syria. "Any new action against Lebanon > would not just target the Lebanese or Hizbollah but also > Syrian forces, to try to change the whole Lebanese political > equation and separate Syria from Lebanon" in order to > "impose a separate treaty on Lebanon" as Israel tried and > failed to do in the early 1980s, at the height of the > Lebanese civil war. > > FROM: > > Financial Times (London) > September 13, 1997, Saturday > > "Hizbollah chief expects new round of proxy war" > > ---------------------------------- > > Asked if he would send suicide bombers against > Israel - the tactic first used by Hizbollah to drive US and > French forces out of Lebanon and Israel back to the security > zone after its 1982 invasion - Sheikh Nasrallah said: "If > they start a new incursion, or a new bombardment, we will > resort to any measure, to any action required to defend > Lebanon and defend ourselves." > > FROM: > > Financial Times (London) > September 13, 1997, Saturday > > "Hizbollah chief expects new round of proxy war" > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Agence France Presse > September 11, 1997 11:09 GMT > > "Iraq calls for jihad against Israel, slams US peace efforts" > > Iraq urged Arab states on Thursday to mount a jihad, or Moslem >holy war, against Israel and to reject a US-sponsored peace process >which it says is biased toward the Jewish state. > > "All the signs and historical facts show that the Arabs have no >choice but to pursue the jihad against the (Israeli) occupier," said >Ath-Thawra, organ of the ruling Baath Party. > > It said US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's maiden tour of >the Middle East that started in Israel on Wednesday was aimed solely >at "guaranteeing the security of the (Israeli) aggressor which >practises terrorism." > > The peace process sponsored by Washington is "totally partial" >toward Israel, it charged, adding that the US administration would >"never accept the slightest pressure on the Zionist entity." > > It slammed "Arab heads of state who think they can settle matters >by negotiating with the enemy." > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > BBC Summary of World Broadcasts > September 13, 1997, Saturday > > "Labour leader Baraq says Syria 'will not dare' > launch chemical attack" > > Source: Voice of Israel, Jerusalem, in Hebrew 0500 gmt 12 Sep 97 > Text of report by Israel radio on 12th September > > Labour leader Ehud Baraq believes Syria will not dare launch the >missiles it has fitted with chemical warheads at Israel. In Baraq's >view, the Syrians regard that as a poor man's response to their >assessment that Israel has nuclear weapons. Baraq's remarks were made >on Israel radio in response to today's 'Yediot Aharonot'report that >Syria is capable of launching dozens of missiles with chemical >warheads in a surprise attack. > > On Mrs Albright's visit, Baraq said Labour is concerned about the >deadlock and the fear that the situation is deteriorating into a >superfluous war. The problem is the path taken by the Netanyahu's >government, Baraq said. > > The prime minister's spokesman voiced regret that Baraq ignored the >Palestinians' responsibility for the deadlock, thereby not helping the >government to confront terrorism. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Agence France Presse > September 12, 1997 12:07 GMT > > "Syria preparing option of surprise > chemical attack on Israel: report" > > Syria has begun preparations for a possible surprise attack on >Israel using missiles armed with chemical warheads, the Israeli >newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported Friday. > > In a report that coincided with US Secretary of State Madeleine >Albright's scheduled departure from Israel for Damascus, the newspaper >published a Russian satellite photo purportedly showing an array of >SCUD missile launch sites near the city of Hama. > > Edward Howe, an arms expert with the British defense weekly Jane's, >told the newspaper the satellite photo is proof that Syria has put in >place the means to launch a surprise missile attack on Israel that >could involve "dozens" of chemical warheads. > > Israeli military officials in recent months have expressed mounting >concern over Syria's efforts to develop new forms of chemical weapons, >including a lethal kind of nerve gas. > > But a former commander of the Israeli air force, Avihu Binun, told >Israel radio Friday that the Yediot report "contains nothing new" and >that Syria "would not dare fire missiles at Israel." > > Ehud Barak, the leader of the opposition Labor Part and a former >army chief of staff, agreed. > > "Syria wouldn't risk a surprise chemical attack against Israel >because they are afraid of the nuclear weapons they think we hold," he >said. > > Israel has never publicly admitted having a nuclear arsenal, but >foreign military experts believe the Jewish state had between 100 and >200 nuclear warheads which could be placed on the army's Jericho >medium and long-range missiles. > > Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations have been on hold since February >1996. > > Albright and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed ways of >renewing the Syrian track of the peace process late Thursday but >neither made any public declarations about their talks. > > The US secretary of state was scheduled to meet Syrian President >Hafez al-Assad late Friday in Damascus. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Financial Times (London) > September 13, 1997, Saturday > > "Hizbollah chief expects new round of proxy war" > > By David Gardner in Beirut > > Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement fighting Israeli >occupation of south Lebanon, is bracing itself for reprisals from >Israel after the ambush last week of an elite Israeli commando unit >deep inside Lebanese territory which left 12 Israelis dead. > > Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, said he was expecting >another Israeli aggression at any time, in spite of US and >international mediation to prevent the low-intensity war in south >Lebanon from escalating into a new trial of strength between Israel >and Syria, which controls Lebanon and licenses Hizbollah attacks. > > Interviewed at a safe-house in the Hizbollah stronghold of Beirut's >teeming southern suburbs, Sheikh Nasrallah said: "I believe Israel=DD >will be obliged to respond to the loss of morale in their armed >forces, and the punctures we have made in their aura of >invincibility." > > Israel has lost 32 elite troops so far this year in Lebanon, on top >of 73 killed in February when two helicopters collided on their way to >the self-proclaimed "security zone" it maintains in the south. > > The security zone, encompassing 12 per cent of Lebanon, is more >tinder-box than buffer, providing the arena for a proxy war between >Israel and Syria, which has 40,000 troops in Lebanon. Hizbollah >pressure on the zone serves Syria as a reminder to Israel that there >will be no peace in the region without the return to Syria of the >Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. > > Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hardline prime minister, has ruled out >returning the Golan, although his Labour predecessors had agreed to >hand back the strategic plateau in exchange for full peace with Syria. >Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state, on her first peace >mission to the Middle East, was last night due to meet Syrian >President Hafez al-Assad to explore ways of reviving negotiations. > > Sheikh Nasrallah, himself just back from consultations in Damascus, >argues that the US has "given the green light to the Israelis" to >attack in Lebanon, just as they did in April last year when Israel >bombarded the country from land, air and sea for 17 days, killing over >200 civilians. But, he says, Israel has "limited options". The black- >turbaned Hizbollah chief lists five. > > "They may try to kill or abduct our leaders - but they will always >do that any time they have the opportunity." Sheikh Nasrallah's >predecessor as Hizbollah secretary general, Sheikh Abbas Musawi, was >killed with his family in 1992 in an Israeli helicopter ambush. > > "There are no longer any Hizbollah training camps for them to >attack," the Islamist sheikh says, adding with a hint of satisfaction >that "it will be a high-risk adventure for them to launch more >commando raids" beyond the security zone in an attempt to stop >Hizbollah infiltration. > > Israel could, he says, launch a new bombardment from the air, which >would primarily hit civilians, and "this would not go unpunished". > > Finally, he said, Israel could try to broaden the conflict to >include Syria. "Any new action against Lebanon would not just target >the Lebanese or Hizbollah but also Syrian forces, to try to change the >whole Lebanese political equation and separate Syria from Lebanon" in >order to "impose a separate treaty on Lebanon" as Israel tried and >failed to do in the early 1980s, at the height of the Lebanese civil >war. > > Sheikh Nasrallah judged the latter option to be ill-advised since, >as Mrs Albright's visit to the region this week showed, "the top >priority for America and Israel at the moment is the Palestinian >issue". > > But he repeated the remarks he made during the April 1996 >bombardment, that "the Israelis control the skies, but we control the >ground." Asked if he would send suicide bombers against Israel - the >tactic first used by Hizbollah to drive US and French forces out of >Lebanon and Israel back to the security zone after its 1982 invasion - >Sheikh Nasrallah said: "If they start a new incursion, or a new >bombardment, we will resort to any measure, to any action required to >defend Lebanon and defend ourselves." > > But the Hizbollah leader denied that his organisation had anything >to do with the recent suicide attacks in Jerusalem which killed 20 >Israelis, as Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, has suggested. "My >direct answer to your direct question is No," Sheikh Nasrallah said. >"Arafat has to a certain extent lost his mental balance. He is trying >to save his own skin by pointing the finger at Palestinians outside >Israel and at Hizbollah. He should produce evidence for these claims." > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Financial Times (London) > September 12, 1997, Friday > > "US steps in to halt further Lebanon fighting" > > By David Gardner in Beirut > > The US has intervened to stop further escalation in the fighting in >southern Lebanon between Israeli occupation forces and Lebanese >Islamist guerrillas, according to Lebanese officials. > > The mediation effort is a response to fears that Israel would >retaliate heavily against Lebanon and its Syrian overlord after losing >12 elite commandos in a bungled raid in southern Lebanon last Friday. > > It is understood that Lebanon, Israel and Syria have been in touch >through the US to calm down the last active Arab-Israeli war front. >The intervention comes after Israel suffered six weeks of mounting >losses in its attempts to defend the "security zone" it occupies in >south Lebanon against the Syrian-licensed Hizbollah, the Shi'a Moslem >fundamentalist militia recognised in Lebanon as a national resistance >movement. > > So far this year, 32 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while a >further 73 were killed in February when their helicopters collided en >route to an operation similar to last week's botched attack. Higher >Israeli casualties follow the near collapse of the mercenary South >Lebanon Army that Israel uses to defend the security zone. This has >compromised its intelligence and pushed Israeli troops to the front- >line and deeper into Lebanon to stop Hizbollah infiltration, bringing >Israel into conflict with other Shi'a forces and the Lebanese army. > > In April last year, Israel bombarded south Lebanon and south Beirut >for 17 days in a fruitless attempt to force Lebanon and Syria to rein >in Hizbollah, killing more than 200 civilians and damaging >infrastructure recently replaced after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. >Fears of a new large-scale incursion had risen after last Friday's >disastrous Israeli raid. > > So far, however, south Lebanon has gone quiet, and Benjamin >Netanyahu, Israel's hardline prime minister, is under pressure from >across the political spectrum to pull out of Lebanon. > > Rafiq al-Hariri, Lebanon's prime minister, dismissed Israeli >agonising over withdrawal as "an internal political game". He said: "I >don't think they are serious. Every time they have a disaster they >talk about withdrawal." He warned that peace and security were >indivisible and that Israel would not obtain security for its people >without returning all occupied Arab land. "They are trying to divide >the undivideable," Mr Hariri said, in a way "which will not guarantee >the security of anyone". > > Although he would not confirm behind-the-scenes mediation by Mrs >Albright, when asked whether he now expected heavy Israeli reprisals, >Mr Hariri said: "I have reason to believe No." > > The prime minister, who with Syrian backing has for the past five >years been the force behind Lebanon's attempts to rebuild itself into >the thriving financial and services entrepot it was before the civil >war, said he believed the recent fighting was an opportunity for >"everyone to come back to the table" and "continue the negotiations". > > He reiterated the word "continue" to reflect Syria's demands that >its negotiations with Israel on the return of the Golan Heights - >captured by Israel in the 1967 six day war - should resume where they >broke off shortly before Mr Netanyahu's election victory. Those talks >had reached the point where Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli premier, >had agreed to return the Golan in exchange for full peace. > > Amid persistent reports of renewed Israeli-Syrian talks at asecret >location in Europe - believed to be Geneva - Mr Hariri said a peace >deal involving Syria, Lebanon and Israel "can be agreed in three >months, but only if Israel wants it". > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > The Washington Times > July 5, 1997, Saturday, Final Edition > > "Syrian moves worry Israelis; > Buildup includes troops, missiles" > > By Andrew Borowiec > > NICOSIA, Cyprus - Concentrations of Syrian troops at strategic >points near Israel are compounding the tension caused by the paralyzed >peace process and the resulting rioting in Israeli-held parts of the >West Bank. > > The Syrian moves, reported by Western and Arab diplomats, are said >to be accompanied by an intensified buildup of Syria's offensive >missiles targeting densely populated areas of Israel. > > Talks at solving the dispute between Israel and Syria have been >stalled since February 1996. The election of conservative Israeli >Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May 1996 seems to have precluded >further contacts in the foreseeable future. > > Syria has been demanding unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the >Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967 and considered crucial to the >Jewish state's defenses. After the 1973 war in which Syria and Egypt >simultaneously attacked Israel on two distant fronts, Israel returned >a slice of the Golan but kept the area dominating its heavily >populated Galilee valley. > > Although Israel maintains definite air and technical superiority >over Syria, the possibility of conflict is taken seriously. > > It was confirmed in a recent statement by Lt. Gen. Amnon Shahak, >Israel's chief of staff, who painted a grim scenario similar to the >surprise Syrian attack over the Golan Heights in 1973. This time, he >indicated, such a thrust would be accompanied by missile attacks. > > "We have a number of sensors and we know that not only the Syrian=DD >leaders are talking about the possibility of war with Israel, " he >told Israeli journalists. "What we know is that they are talking about >a surprise attack. " > > According to Western reports, Syria has redeployed some of its >elite units closer to the border. > > This includes the 14th Special Forces Division now poised in the >foothills of Mount Hermon, and the 51st Division, moved east of >Lebanon's Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley. In the Golan Heights, a >narrow strip of land partly held by Israel, Syria has an estimated >three to four army divisions. > > Damascus has described the deployment as defensive, and some >diplomats are playing down the possibility of a new conflict, mainly >because the collapse of the Soviet Union has deprived Syria of its >major source of weapons. > > Looking for other sources of weapons has turned out to be costly >and difficult. Apparently because of strong U.S. pressure, Syria has >been unable to purchase a highly sophisticated Tiger fire-control >system from South Africa. > > Israeli forces have been steadily beefed up by state-of-the-art >U.S. weapons, confirming them as the most modern and technically >superior fighting machine in the region. Some diplomats say Israel >has been receiving more than the officially earmarked $1.8 billion a >year in military subsidies. > > According to a French diplomatic report weighing the prospect of >renewed fighting between Israel and Syria, a conflict could be >triggered if Yasser Arafat resorted to force or if his Palestinian >Authority collapsed and Israel reoccupied the self-ruled areas. > > Such a blueprint apparently exists and recently the Israelis >conducted maneuvers in the West Bank to test its feasibility. > > While the Israeli air force is equipped to maintain round-the- >clock fighting capability in the event of conflict with Syria, Israel >is seriously concerned about Syria's missile development program. > > The Syrian program was heightened, according to some Israeli >reports, by Israel's plans to deploy an anti-missile system known as >Arrow 2, which would cover about 85 percent of populated areas. But >some Western sources say Syria has been unable to develop effective >chemical and bacteriological weapons. > *************************************************************************