حزب الإصلاح السوري

Syria Still Backing Palestinian Groups

Washington DC, September 28, 2004 /The Associated Press/ -- Syria showed no sign it will relinquish its support for Palestinian militant groups, despite an Israeli assassination of a Hamas leader in Damascus that highlights Syria's military inferiority for the second time in a year.

But sheltering militants in defiance of long-standing U.S. demands and at a time when Syria does not have much sympathy internationally could prove challenging.

"Does Syria want to be inviting more trouble?" asked Dennis Ross, the senior Middle East mediator for former Presidents Bush and Clinton.

Officially, Syria has only blamed Israel, for Sunday's assassination of Hamas leader Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil, 42, in Damascus, and not said how it might respond. Israeli security officials in Jerusalem, speaking on condition of anonymity, have acknowledged Israeli involvement, though the government issued no statement.

Analysts say Khalil's assassination carried a similar message to the one Israel sent when it dispatched its warplanes last October to bomb an abandoned Damascus-area base of the Islamic Jihad. That airstrike, the first in two decades, was retaliation for a Jihad suicide bombing at a restaurant in Haifa that killed 19 people.

"The Israelis are sending a message that their arm is long ... that they can threaten and strike as they wish," said Ahmed Haj Ali, a Syrian analyst.

Haj Ali said the course Syria is expected to take now is one that promotes "calming the situation and stability in the region."

He did not say whether that course would force Syria to change its attitude on one of the stickiest issues between Washington and Damascus - the presence of the leaders of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Syria.

The U.S. administration, like the Israeli government, believes Damascus-based leaders provide overall direction, information and money to their counterparts in the Palestinian territories.

The Syrians view these groups, which have been responsible for the deaths of scores of Israelis in suicide attacks in recent years, as one of the few means they have at their disposal to pressure Israel. They deny the militant groups carry out any operational activities in Syria, but the Palestinian leaders often travel across the border to Lebanon, which is controlled by Syria, where they can conduct business.

Syria also denies ordering the groups' leaders to leave, and some appeared at Monday's funeral for Khalil.

Syria's state-owned newspapers, which reflect government thinking, said U.S. support encourages Israel to carry out such acts and that no one can tell the Palestinians not to defend themselves.

"It's the right of the Palestinian people who are targeted by (Israeli) terrorism ... to protect themselves using means they deem appropriate," state-run Al-Thawra newspaper said. "And no one has the right to deprive them of this act in light of the international community's inaction to rein in Israel's organized terrorism."

Ross, who is now counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the Israelis want the Syrians to understand "there could be a cost" unless that support is dropped.

He said that while it doesn't look like Israel is thinking of going to war, "the Israelis have other military options."

"You can't dismiss the fact that they could do more," he said.

Ross said the fact that Israel's security organizations would acknowledge Israel was behind the car bombing "is really out of character."

"That gets to the real point, that they wanted to be sure the message is understood on the one hand, and they didn't mind making it clear that they could do things that could be embarrassing to the Syrian regime," he added.

Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor for Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments magazine in London, said last October's attack "underlined the military inferiority of Syria."

"Now, we discover that Israeli spies or assassin squads can operate in Damascus without too many problems apparently," he said.

Even if Syria chose a military response, it couldn't match Israeli power. Syria is believed to have around 380,000 troops on active duty, but Israel is known to have much more advanced weapons.

Reform Party of Syria