Israel to Syria: We have no plans to attack
Amid tension with Damascus, Netanyahu and Barak convey calming message to Syria President Assad through visiting Spain FM.
By Barak RavidPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday conveyed their assurances to Syria to the effect that Israel has no intention of attacking it.
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IDF soldiers. |
| Photo by: Alon Ron |
Amid tension with Damascus, they asked Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, who is now visiting Israel, to give the message to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Moratinos agreed to do so, and said he was convinced Assad is interested in peace with Israel and rapprochement with the West, according to Spanish diplomats and senior Israeli officials.
Netanyahu said last month that rumors about a planned Israeli military action against Syria were likely spread by Iran and Hezbollah as an attempt to distract the international community from the bid to impose sanctions on Iran.
Israel says Syria gave SS Scud missiles and advanced M-600 rockets to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu asked Moratinos if Assad would attend the Mediterranean leaders' conference next month in Barcelona. Moratinos said the Syrians have not replied yet and urged Netanyahu to come to the summit, where he could meet with several other leaders such as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Moratinos said at a meeting with President Shimon Peres yesterday that tension between Israel and Syria had increased during his previous visit to Israel in February as well.
"Last time I was in Damascus, after visiting Israel, I met Assad and he was on the verge of hysteria for fear of an Israeli attack," Moratinos said.
On his previous trip, Moratinos visited Damascus a few days after Barak said that without peace with Syria, Israel could become involved a confrontation in the north that could lead to an overall war. Barak's statement was interpreted in Damascus as a threat, and Assad warned of escalation.
"Israel is pushing the region to war," Assad told Moratinos at the time.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday lashed out at Syria at a news conference in Tokyo, saying the military cooperation between Syria and North Korea endangered stability both in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He declared North Korea, Syria and Iran the new axis of evil, and said that North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok in December were bound for Hamas and Hezbollah.
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We have no plans to attack but if you lay a finger on us we are going to hit you hard. Take this as a warning.
Question is who will believe Israelis promises ?! Joke!
And if Israel had plans to attack, Syria would be the last to know. It's coming sooner or later. The Syrians will provoke war as they have so many times in the past.
Yet another attempt by Israel to influemce the meetings of foreign dignateries within certain countries. We all know that Israel has plans to attack in the North. It is just a question of when and not if Israel puts them into action to ensure there is no two State solution.
"We all know". Who is "we". Certainly not you. Not one of your predictions have ever come to pass. You are a joke. The only thing that "we all know" is that you are a no nothing anti Israel Jewish convert blowhard from some minor village in the UK who has made it his lifework to write thousands of ignorant posts to Haaretz.
Israel, Lebanon and Syria are 3 secular nations in the middle east, that need to not just make peace but also unite like the EU to help prevent the spread of radical Islam. The region will be way better of, if you all unite. So let's do it and stop fighting about the details on how many inches each one will keep at the end, just find a way to share it.
the region's seculars and moderates share the same tolerant worldview and should unite against the common enemies, the norrow minded extremists.
Giving Gaza to the Palestinians is one. But I suppose the only "gesture" from Israel that yuo would consider a "real" one would be the capitulation of all the Jews worldwide to the Arabs.....