Israeli Raid on Syria is a Lethal Step Towards War

From: "GRAHAM JUKES" Israeli Raid on Syria is a Lethal Step Towards War
http://www.nowarforisrael.com

US Gave Israel Greenlight for Attack

Raid on Syria is a Lethal Step Towards War

http://counterpunch.org/fisk10062003.html

ISRAEL IS THE PROBLEM
Our problem….

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, and it looks like we may
be in for a possible replay of that horrific disaster in which tens of thousands
lost their lives. Yesterday, Israel bombed alleged "terrorist camps" in Syria.
The excuse: yet another suicide bombing in Israel, this time taking 19 innocent
lives, immediately claimed by Islamic Jihad (which denied having military bases
in Syria). This was one of the deadliest suicide bombings since the beginning of
the Intifada, but in principle no different from the dozens of other vicious
acts of terror that are now a feature of daily life in Israel. What is
different, however, is that Israel's strategic orientation has radically
changed.

Whereas 30 years ago, Israel was on the defensive, and to a large degree
dependent on the U.S., today they are clearly prepared to act on their own –
without waiting for Washington's okay.

That is the chief result of the Iraq war – the unleashing of Israel. We are
seeing the first fruits of our Pyrrhic "victory" in this latest foray by an
emboldened Ariel Sharon, who clearly hopes that the stalemated outcome of the
first Yom Kippur war can now be overturned.

Taken by surprise, in 1973, Israeli forces reeled from the combined
Egyptian-Syrian sneak attack. Aided by "Operation Nickel Grass," an airlift of
vital military supplies from the U.S., the Israelis held their positions and
then started to push back – coming within 43 miles of Cairo and taking the Golan
Heights before the UN called a halt. Today, it is the Syrians who have been
taken by surprise, and, this time, the Israelis may not stop until they roll
through the streets of Damascus. That, at least, is the threat implicit in their
actions.

The Iraq war, as we are beginning to discover, had nothing to do with "weapons
of mass destruction," zero to do with Al Qaeda, and zilch to do with implanting
"democracy" in the inhospitable soil of Iraq. The first phase of the second Yom
Kippur War is revealing, in action, the strategic doctrine at the heart of U.S.
Middle Eastern policy: the installation of Israel as regional hegemon.

This doctrine was prefigured in a 1996 paper prepared for then Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu by a working group consisting of several individuals who are
now in top spots in the Bush administration. "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for
Securing the Realm" recommended that Israel set itself free from its
embarrassing and debilitating dependence on U.S. military and diplomatic
support: no matter how unconditional, this support constrained Israel and
prevented it from pursuing its true interests. The paper, co-authored by Richard
Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr.,Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg,
David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser, portrayed Syria as the main enemy of Israel,
but maintained the road to Damascus had to first pass through Baghdad:
"Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and
Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can
focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq – an important Israeli
strategic objective in its own right – as a means of foiling Syria's regional
ambitions. Jordan has challenged Syria's regional ambitions recently by
suggesting the restoration of the Hashemites in Iraq."

Today, three of Netanyahu's advisors – Perle, Feith, and David Wurmser – occupy
top spots in the foreign policy councils of the Bush administration, where their
fulsome support for the Iraq war helped implement the first part of the plan.
David Wurmser is chief aide to Undersecretary of Defense John Bolton, who,
before a single shot was fired against Iraq, was already promising Sharon that
Syria would be next. As Ha'aretz reported at the time (scroll down):
"U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in meetings with Israeli
officials on Monday that he has no doubt America will attack Iraq, and that it
will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea
afterwards."

In February, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was already demanding action against
Syria. At a meeting with a delegation of U.S. congressmen, Sharon handed the
Americans their marching orders:
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that Iran, Libya and Syria should be
stripped of weapons of mass destruction after Iraq. 'These are irresponsible
states, which must be disarmed of weapons mass destruction, and a successful
American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve,' Sharon said
to a visiting delegation of American congressmen. Sharon told the congressmen
that Israel was not involved in the war with Iraq 'but the American action is of
vital importance.'"

But instead of being converted on the road to Damascus, the Americans were
deterred from launching future wars by the unpleasant political and military
blowback emanating from that deepening quagmire. Karl Rove's "no wars in '04"
dictum threw a roadblock in the path of the pro-Israeli neoconservatives in the
U.S. government, who are now under siege as a result of the Plame affair. The
Israelis, enraged by this turn of events, are now playing their trump card.

The Israeli attack on Syria is a replication of the U.S. attack on Iraq: the
claim of terrorist "links" is followed by unilateral military action – this
time, however, in defiance of the whole world, including the U.S. rather than
just the UN. The actors are different, but the principle is the same, a
similarity Israel's American amen corner will no doubt raise in order to justify
Sharon's reckless provocation. Israel, we are endlessly told, has the right to
"defend" itself – even if it means conquering and occupying all of Palestine and
driving the original inhabitants into Jordan. As "A Clean Break" projected the
plan:
"Since Iraq's future could affect the strategic balance in the Middle East
profoundly, it would be understandable that Israel has an interest in supporting
the Hashemites in their efforts to redefine Iraq."

Let's hand our Palestinian problem over to the Hashemites, say radical Likud
hard-liners and their American supporters. There is no such people as the
Palestinians, anyway, as Joan Peters and Alan Dershowitz aver: they are really
just Jordanians. A Hashemite restoration in Iraq would pave the way for the
creation of a Greater Israel, fulfilling God's promise to Abraham in the Bible:
"To your descendants I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great
River, the river Euphrates."

Israel, with its overweening military might, would dominate the Middle East.
This is the goal of the Christian dispensationalist ministers, such as Pat
Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who believe Israeli hegemony in the Middle East
represents the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. But a prophecy, in their view,
can be self-fulfilling: it is their Christian duty, they believe, to hurry it
along.

The Christian apocalyptic vision of Armageddon in the Middle East – its
inevitability and desirability as a portent of the Second Coming of Christ – is
the key to understanding conservative Republican support for our war policy in
Iraq. The fundies are perfectly aligned with neoconservative efforts to spread
the conflict to Syria, Iran, and beyond, a development that would fulfill not
only Biblical prophecy but also the direst predictions of anti-war advocates.

The recent report on Israel's growing military superiority out of Tel Aviv
University's prestigious Jaffee Center led to widespread worries of Israeli
"complacency," and, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports:
"The Jaffee researchers acknowledge that some of Israel´s new strategic gains
depend on whether the United States manages to stabilize the regime in Iraq or
whether it gets bogged down. If the latter happens, some of Israel´s gains could
be wiped out, they say."

The political and military bog in which George W. Bush is caught has him and his
advisors, notably Rumslfeld, scrambling for an exit strategy. Before this can
happen, Israel is seizing the moment to consolidate its gains. The attack on
Syria comes just when Colin Powell has been raising more voluble objections to
the odious "Wall of Separation" subsidized by U.S. tax dollars, and the threat
to kill or exile Arafat is being taken seriously enough to raise serious
concerns even among Israel's staunchest friends. Worse, from the Israeli
perspective, is the news of secret peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
Sharon, feeling betrayed, is saying: Expand the war, or I will.

Dependent on the Republican activist base of millions of dispensationalist
Christians, who put Israeli interests first, the President of the United States
is powerless to stop Sharon's rampage. With his "road map" derailed, and the
neocons already turning on him (or threatening to), George W. Bush must be
content to watch helplessly as Sharon, the main benefactor of the Iraq war,
moves to harvest the fruits of the American victory – while the White House is
stuck with an $87 billion bill, rising casualties, and a simmering political
scandal that threatens to unravel Bush's presidency.

This is the thanks Bush gets for going to war for Israel's sake. Let that be a
lesson to him. Too bad it comes far too late in the day to save either his
presidency or his place in history. But better late than never.

NOTES IN THE MARGIN

Our Fall fundraising drive is a great success, and that is due to you, our
faithful and heroic readers. As of this writing, we have received just over
$32,000. For that, I can't thank you enough. Your contributions are deeply
appreciated: it's a feeling of tremendous validation to see that so many of our
readers have stuck by us. The sheer number of contributions is overwhelming. I
am so moved that words, uncharacteristically, fail me, so I'll just say this:
we'll work day and night to deserve this wonderful vote of confidence.

– Justin Raimondo

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ISRAEL + US PREPARE TO ATTACK IRAN

GOAL IS FORCING CAPITULATION OR
RISKING REGIONAL WAR
"There could be very, very serious ramifications
in the wake of what's happened with this air
strike by the Israelis in Syrian territory."
Brent Sadler, CNN
.
“It could be a race who presses the button
first (to strike Iran) – us or the Americans”.
Israeli Mossad Official

MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 6 October 2003: Before
the Israelis bombed Syria for the first time in decades, MER warned over the
past weekend that General Sharon - and what is essentially another
military-Mossad government in Israel - was trying hard to provoke an "excuse"
for a new regional war; much as has been done before, most recently in 1982 when
Sharon, then Defense Minister, cleverly orchestrated the invasion of Lebanon in
an attempt to install a 'new regime' in that country.
Indeed, it was that war which then led to the Hezbollah, the Intifada,
Hamas, and the now-escalating phenomena of 'suicide bombers'...not to mention
the effects Sharon's militarist and expansionist policies have had on events
taking place in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and throughout the region.
Now Sharon and his warrior Generals are attempting to twist world affairs in a
way that will allow them, always of course in intimate coordination with the US,
to force Syria into fuller capitulation and to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities
if the Iranians refuse compliance.
At this historical moment the Arabs are exceedingly weak, confused,
co-opted and impotent. This is the result not only of decades of Israeli and
U.S. policies to create just such a state of affairs, but of the gross
incompetence and corruption of the key Arab regimes in Cairo, Riyadh, Damascus
and Amman. All combined 'Arab world' military and economic power is but a
small fraction of that of today's Israel backed by its superpower patron. As
for pollitical power, overall the Arabs are treated with contempt and scorn by
their enemies, and with pity and jokes by their friends.
It is Iran which Israel now has in the cross-hairs. Taking out Iran's
growing military capabilities, especially its nuclear and missiles facilities,
is at the top of the Israeli agenda and that of its many top-level fellow
travelers in the American Pentagon and White House National Security Council.
Indeed, a number of times in the past year, even in public, Ariel Sharon has
telegraphed his blatant warnings - far more so in secret no doubt. Just before
the American invasion/occupation of Iraq - and after holding numerous private
meetings in Washington with President Bush and senior US officials - Sharon
himself said quite clearly: "Right after Iraq must come Iran".
Now, with American forces occupying the heart of the Arab world, with most
Arab regimes either infiltrated, co-opted, or cowering, the final stage is being
set. Sharon will continue to do all he can to provoke more attacks against
Israel's increasingly brutal occupation and then, when the political and 'public
opionion' moment is right, Israel will strike - of course with considerable US
help no matter what is said in public.
The first article that follows, dateline Washington, is not fully on
target. After all this is hardly the 'first time', though it may very well
prove to be the most significant time.
Israel had hoped the US could either topple the current Iranian regime, or
somehow force an end to its nuclear programs. Having failed, including no
doubt numerous CIA and Mossad operations, the option of military force is now
more on the table than ever before. This is especially the case as the betting
is the 'world community' will protest but not take any significant anti-Israel
steps, and even if the UN tried the US would block with its veto, proven last
month when the US used the 'veto' one more time to protect Israel with hardly
anyone noticing.
ISRAEL WEIGHS STRIKE TO STOP IRAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

TEL AVIV — For the first time, Israel's military has raised the prospect of an
operation to destroy Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Israel's chief of staff, alarmed by the failure of the international community
to move against Iran, has warned that Israel would consider unilateral action to
stop the "nightmare scenario" of Teheran's development of nuclear weapons.

Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom demanded that the international
community stop the program.
"Iran is fast approaching the point of no return in its efforts to acquire
nuclear weapons capability," Shalom said. "It's urgent that the international
community act to ensure that this nightmare scenario is prevented."

Israel's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon took the rhetoric up a notch.
"At the moment there is continuing international diplomatic activity to deal
with this threat, and it would be good if it succeeds," Ya'alon said. "But if
that is not the case we would consider our options."

Israel has never specified what action it might take to stop Iran's nuclear
weapons program. But Israeli officials assert that the nation's deep-strike air
capability has been vastly upgraded since Israeli F-16 multi-role fighters
destroyed the Iraqi reactor at Osirak in 1981.

Officials said Israel has been dismayed by what they term the refusal by both
the European Union and the United States to share the sense of urgency regarding
Iran's nuclear program. Last week, Washington rejected an Israeli assessment
that Iran could complete its first nuclear weapons by the end of 2004.
"The fact that a country like Iran, an enemy [of Israel] and which is
particularly irresponsible, has equipped itself with nonconventional weapons is
worrisome," Ya'alon said.
"The combination in this case of a nonconventional regime with nonconventional
weapons is a concern."

The clearest warnings yet came on the eve of another effort by the International
Atomic Energy Agency to investigate suspected Iranian violations of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. The suspected violations include the unauthorized
enrichment of uranium.

Three leading EU states have offered to share nuclear technology with Iran if
Teheran agrees to sign a protocol for tougher nuclear inspections. Britain,
Germany and France sent a letter to Iran that offered nuclear technology in a
bid to defuse the confrontation with the IAEA.

In early September, the IAEA voted to give Teheran until Oct. 31 to respond to
all agency inquiries over Iran's nuclear program. An IAEA delegation was
expected to arrive in Iran on Sunday to conduct additional environmental
sampling of nuclear facilities to test for uranium enrichment Special To
World Tribune - 25 Sept 2003.
PENTAGON MISSILE TARGETEERS LINE UP IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES
by Gordon Thomas*

The Pentagon’s forward planners have targeted two Iranian nuclear facilities
after weapons-grade enriched uranium has been found in one by UN inspectors. A
UN report published this week says the country could acquire a nuclear bomb
within two years.
Particles of weapons-grade enriched uranium were discovered at Natanz. Iran
claims the particles were from “contaminated components” it bought on the black
market in the 1980s when it was trying to set up its “peaceful nuclear
programme” – and could not find a supplier in the West ready to help.

But both the CIA and MI6, who have now each made intelligence gathering on Iran
a priority, discount Iran’s claim of how it came to have sufficient enriched
uranium to make an effective “dirty bomb”.

Neo-conservatives around Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld have not
discounted a pre-emptive strike against the plants at Natanz and Arak. They are
sited south of Tehran, in the remote fastness of central Iran.

Unlike the rift that developed over the war with Iraq between the United States
and the European Union, there is a consensus that it is “essential and urgent”
for Iran to stop arming itself with nuclear weapons.

Washington is supporting a UN resolution – sponsored by Britain, France and
Germany – that Iran must stop its nuclear programme by the end of October.
Implicit in the resolution is a warning the plants could be hit by missiles
fired from US warships in the Gulf.

The plant at Natanz is far bigger than anything Iraq ever had. Natanz is guarded
by a heavily patrolled thirty-mile deep perimeter within the featureless
landscape.

The Tehran regime claims the Natanz plant is only working to develop the country
’s peaceful nuclear energy programme to bring power, heat and electricity to its
hundreds of small towns and villages.

But British and German intelligence agents have pinpointed an underground
complex capable of holding 1,000 personnel.
UN inspectors, diverted from searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
have confirmed the existence of the complex.
Buried thirty-feet below ground, it has eight-feet thick walls to protect two
large halls.

In a report last week to the 35-member board of governors of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, the inspectors told their closed meeting in Vienna
they are certain the underground complex is designed to carry out the process of
turning enriched uranium into weapons-grade material.

The report states: “there are 1,000 gas centrifuges and components for the
manufacture of 50,000 further centrifuges”.
Highly enriched uranium is an essential element in producing a nuclear weapon.

Iran has two plants – one at Arkadan, east of Natanz, the other near the
historic town of Isfahan – to convert uranium ore into yellowcake, a processed
form of uranium. The yellowcake can be converted into enriched uranium as well
as producing hexaflouride gas, essential to drive the centrifuges.

Russian engineers are helping Iran to build a heavy water plant at Arak. Iran
again claims the plant will be used only for peaceful purposes. But the UN
report states: “heavy water can also produce more plutonium than light water
reactors, and therefore can produce significant quantities to be used in
weapons”.

Kenneth Brill, the US ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna said last week
that the evidence against Iran “already justifies an immediate non-compliance
verdict”.

Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the UN Security Council could
introduce crippling sanctions against Iran. That would most certainly place the
United States on a collision course with one of the nations President Bush has
named as being part of the “axis of evil”.

There is also a clear danger that Israel could act unilaterally and launch its
own air strikes against Iran’s nuclear plants. It has done so before – when it
destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor outside Baghdad in March, 1981.

“We will not stand by and allow the Iranians to use the same cat-and-mouse games
over their nuclear plants that Saddam used over many years”, said a senior
Israeli intelligence officer in Tel Aviv. “There is a need to take a touch line
now. In two years time, it could be too late”.

The prospect of military action came that much closer after Hashemi-Rafsanjani,
one of Iran’s most influential clerics and the country’s former president,
called on Muslim states last December to use nuclear weapons against Israel.

Mossad analysts told Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, that the appeal was
directed not only at Pakistan, the one Muslim nation known to have nuclear
weapons, but also to Iran’s partner in the “axis of evil” – North Korea.

That possibility has led to the Pentagon forward planners continuing to prepare
their own missile strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

As the Israeli intelligence officer said: “it could be a race who presses the
button first – us or the Americans”. -30 Sept 2003.

* Gordon Thomas is a veteran Irish journalist known for his long-time
connections with senior Israeli and British intelligence officials. He is the
author of numerous books including Voyage of the Damned and a book about the
history and exploits of the Israeli Mossad.

Subj: US GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZES/SUPPORTS SHARON'S EVIL DOINGS INSTEAD OF CARING
FOR SOCIAL AND HUMAN NEEDS OF AMERICANS! by William Hughes NO COMMENTS!!!
From: josephanthony.yuja@tin.it

Published, Media Monitors Networks, Oct. 4, 2003, at:

Sharondammerung!

by William Hughes

Like an absolute monarch, Ariel Sharon does what he wants, when he wants to, and
with full impunity, too. He also doesn’t give a good hoot what the White House,
the Arab World or the UN think of his demented conduct. (By way of possible
explanation for his bizarre behavior, see “Jewish History: Jewish Religion,” by
Israel Shahak, for disturbing examples of anti-Christian, anti-Muslim bias still
extant in Jewish religious literature.)

Sharon, the personification of hubris, is the Prime Minister of Zionist Israel.
His death squad operate 24/7 in the occupied territories. He also continues to
steal the land of the Palestinians, while regularly humiliating his supposed
American allies by building more illegal settlements (604 new units are on the
way).

The cunning Sharon is also constructing a monstrous Apartheid Wall, that
stretches for hundreds of miles across the occupied territories, to permanently
seal in the indigenous people. International law means absolutely nothing to
him. Sharon is a law under himself. The UN, too, refuses to take him on for his
criminal misdeeds. He belongs in the dock, next to Slobodan Milosevic, at The
Hague, standing trial for War Crimes he has committed in Jordan, the occupied
territories and Lebanon. Instead, he is invited to the White House for a photo
op and tea.

The UN Security Council Resolutions condemning Israel are used as waste paper by
Sharon. Detention of prisoners without trial and torture of detainees are
endemic under the Sharon regime (Amnesty International Reports). It was also one
of his bulldozer drivers, that viciously took the life of the young American
activist, Rachel Corrie. His bulldozer operatives have leveled thousands of
innocent Palestinian homes and vineyards.

For the latest example of a Sharon-inspired outrage, look to Rafah. On Oct. 1st,
the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished 18 homes in that refugee camp,
located in the Gaza Strip. This act of barbarism left 270 Palestinians, mostly
children homeless. Washington failed to offer a word in protest to Tel Aviv
about this act of gangsterism- - not one word!

All of the above, and much more, makes George W. Bush, Jr.’s hyped “Road Map”
totally irrelevant to any possible peace settlement and leaves the U.S.
president looking like a Zionist lapdog. It also, tragically, creates an
environment of utter hopelessness among the beleaguered Palestinians, that has
generated a lethal campaign of counter-violence.

Adding to the mix, on Oct. 3, 2002, Sharon told his cabinet of right wingers,
War Hawks, Likudniks, Christian-bashers, Jonathan Pollard fans and Palestinian
land grabbers: “I want to tell you something very clear, don’t worry about
American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people control America, and the
Americans know it” (Israel Radio, “Kol Yisrael”).

It is a flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution, and of the principles of
the Republic itself, for any special interest clique to “control America.”
Question: When, in the name of our revered Sons of Liberty, is the Justice
Department going to take action against this coup de Sharon?

Also, it was Sharon, who loudly ranted for a U.S. led war against Iraq. He also
wanted us to invade Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. His lackeys in this country,
like Neocon, Richard Perle, regularly spit out the same hawkish line. Now, that
Iraq war, besides making America more enemies in the Islamic World, (“U.S. Image
Drops Among Muslims,” BBC News, 10/02/03), is creating a costly Vietnam War-like
quagmire. This unjust conflict will also further destabilize this country, which
will make it all the easier for the globalist-oriented wire pullers to
manipulate us.

All of this costs big bucks, too. Zionist Israel has persisted in looting our
Treasury in billions of direct freebies, since 1948, with consequential costs,
estimated in the trillions of dollars (June, 2003, “WRMEA” magazine). Meanwhile,
the U.S. economy is tanking and our once solid manufacturing jobs are fleeing
the country faster than the ADL’s Abe Foxman can scream, “Anti-Semitism!” Fact:
the U.S. is subsidizing Sharon’s evil doings instead of taking care of the
social and human needs of its own people.

Sadly, history shows that American presidents are afraid to say “no” to any
Israeli demand. No American chief executive, since John F. Kennedy, has dared to
take on the Zionist Cartel. JFK had insisted that the Israelis not develop
nuclear weapons (Rense.com, 09/28/03). Shortly after his protest, he was
assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963, supposedly by a “lone nut,” Lee
Harvey “The Patsy” Oswald. Oswald, in turn, was quickly silenced by one Jacob
Rubenstein, a/k/a Jack Ruby.

Ruby was a shady character, who shot Oswald to death allegedly because he wanted
to save Jacqueline Kennedy from testifying in a murder trial. Now, if you
believe that Ruby, the owner of a sleazy Dallas striptease joint, was concerned
about the feelings of JFK’s widow, then there’s a bridge in Brooklyn for sale
that you might also be interested in buying. Check out the intriguing, “Final
Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy,” by Michael
Collins Piper. It also has some shocking information on Sen. Arlen “Magic
Bullet” Specter (R-PA).

In conclusion, if the deranged Sharon isn’t stopped soon, it will result in the
ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people; as well as more terrorists attacks
on the U.S.

© William Hughes 2003

Subj: U.S. blames Syria
From: BGJDAVID

It doesn't matter if the entire world, including Great Britain, condemned
Israel's attack on Syria today, the Bush Administration refuses to criticize
Israel and instead blames the victim, Syria. What a spineless president we
have.

U.S. Cites Syria As Sponsor of Terrorism

By BARRY SCHWEID
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States served notice Sunday that it considers Syria
on the wrong side of the fight against terrorism and appealed for restraint in
the Middle East after Israel struck inside its Arab neighbor's territory.

The Bush administration did not criticize Israel for the attack, which Israel
said was directed at a training camp for Islamic Jihad, the group that claimed
responsibility for a suicide bombing that caused heavy casualties Saturday in
Israel.

But the State Department said Syria ``must cease harboring terrorists and make a
clean break from those responsible for planning and directing terrorist action
from Syrian soil.''

Arab leaders warned that a ``circle of violence'' could encompass the region
after Israeli warplanes attacked deep inside Syria for the first time in three
decades.

The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss Syria's
complaint to Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the strikes near Damascus, the
capital.

President Bush telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to offer
condolences and condemnation for the Haifa bombing that killed 19 people.

The two agreed on a need to continue fighting terrorism and ``on the need to
avoid heightened tension in the region at this time,'' said Ken Lesius, a White
House spokesman.

Administration officials said Israel had not informed Washington in advance of
its retaliatory strike nor indicated whether it intended any move against
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to remove him from his West Bank headquarters.

The State Department has listed Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism since the
list's inception three decades ago, and the department contends Syria offers
sanctuary and political protection to