MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) – Israel bombed a target inside Syria that it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base, striking deep inside its neighbor’s territory yesterday for the first time in three decades and widening its pursuit of Palestinian militants.
The airstrike – a retaliation for a suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis – alarmed the Arab world and deepened concerns that three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence could spread through the region. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing, in which 55 people were wounded.
Washington urged both sides to show restraint – but added pointed criticism of Syria, saying Damascus “must cease harboring terrorists and make a clean break from those responsible for planning and directing terrorist action from Syrian soil.”
With little option for military retaliation, Syria turned for international support. On requests from Damascus, the U.N. Security Council and the 22-member Arab League held emergency sessions yesterday as Syria’s foreign minister Farouq al-Sharaa sought measures to deter Israeli “aggression.”
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad called on the council to adopt a resolution condemning the attack.
“Arabs and many people across the globe feel that Israel is above law,” Mekdad said.
Israel’s Ambassador Dan Gillerman defended the attack. He accused Syria of providing “safe harbor, training facilities, funding, (and) logistical support” to terrorist organizations.
Syria’s draft calls for Israel to stop committing acts that could threaten regional security. It was unclear when the council would vote on the resolution or whether the United States would veto it.
Leaders of Islamic Jihad and other militant groups are based in Syria, but Jihad yesterday denied having any training bases there. Syrian villagers near the targeted site said the camp had been used by Palestinian gunmen in the 1970s but was later abandoned – and was now only used by picnickers and other visitors to its spring and olive groves.
The raid was a dramatic new tactic for Israel in its attempts to stop Palestinian militants.
Closures, assassinations and military strikes into Palestinian areas have failed to stop suicide attacks, and Washington strongly opposes expelling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as Israel has threatened.