Israeli jets strike deep inside Syria

JERUSALEM -- Israeli warplanes struck deep in Syrian territory yesterday for the first time in 30 years in response to a suicide attack over the weekend that killed 19 people, extending Israeli-Palestinian fighting to another country for the first time since 2000.

The Israeli army said bombs were dropped on the Ein Saheb training camp near Damascus, which it said had been used by "terrorist organizations" -- including Islamic Jihad, the group behind the suicide attack Saturday in the northern town of Haifa. It was not immediately clear whether any people were wounded or killed in the raid.

The army also issued an undated videotape it said was shot in the purported camp and broadcast on Iranian television. The tape shows hundreds of weapons at the site and tunnels packed with ammunition.

Both Israel and the United States accuse Syria of harboring militant groups and supporting their violent activities.

But Syria denied that the area served as a training ground of any kind and complained to the United Nations Security Council, which met late yesterday.

An adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would strike again at Syria if it continues encouraging militant groups to launch attacks against Israel. But analysts here doubted that the air raid would lead to a broader confrontation with Damascus.

"I don't see Syria responding militarily. They are no match for Israel, and it would make Syria very vulnerable," said Eyal Zisser, a Syria specialist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

In Washington, the United States called on both countries to avoid an escalation, but singled out Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism. "We urge all sides to exercise restraint and to keep in mind the consequences of their actions," said a statement from the State Department.

A White House spokesman said President Bush phoned Sharon yesterday to offer condolences for the people killed in Haifa and to ask him to refrain from further heightening tensions in the Middle East.

The violence occurred as Israel marked Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and the anniversary of the last direct war between Syria and Israel in 1973. Since then, Israel's border with Syria has been quiet. But Sharon has increasingly blamed Syria for abetting Palestinian violence by allowing extremist groups to operate offices and other quarters in Damascus.

In response to pressure from Washington earlier this year, Syria said it had closed the offices of Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and other militant groups. But Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton said in an appearance before a congressional committee earlier this year that Syria was supporting terrorist organizations and developing weapons of mass destruction.

Yesterday, Israel said the shutdown was a sham. The groups all continue to view Damascus as their main operating center and Iran as their benefactor, according to Ra'anan Gissin, Sharon's media adviser.

"We will not tolerate the continuation of this axis of terror between Iran, Syria, and the Gaza Strip," Gissin said. He said that Syria was the main conduit for money provided to Islamic Jihad by Iran.

Hours after Saturday's bombing in a Haifa restaurant, carried out by a 29-year-old Palestinian woman with ties to Islamic Jihad, Sharon summoned security chiefs to decide on possible targets for retribution. The decision to strike at Syria was made at that meeting late Saturday, according to a security official.

Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara of Syria called on the UN Security Council to rein in Sharon and "deter the Israeli government from following a provocative, aggressive policy against Syria."

He said that Israel was smarting over the latest suicide attack and grasping for measures that would mollify the public.

Israel considers Syria one of its most implacable foes. The two sides regularly square off in Lebanon, where Damascus is viewed as the main sponsor of Hezbollah, the Islamic group that drove Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon three years ago.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad in Beirut, Abu Emad el-Refaei, also scoffed at the Israeli allegations. Refaei denied the group had any training centers in Syria. "All our bases are inside the Palestinian occupied territories," he said.

But the Israeli army said in a statement that Palestinians were getting training at Ein Saheb in artillery, guerrilla warfare, and even aeronautics.

"The Ein Saheb terrorist training camp in Syria is supported by Iran and is used for operations training for Palestinian terrorists, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad activists," the statement said.

Israel was widely expected to deport Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the bombing Saturday, a decision Sharon's Cabinet made in principle last month but delayed after pressure from Washington.

In a separate development, Arafat issued a special decree yesterday naming Ahmed Qurei as Palestinian prime minister and head of a seven-member emergency Cabinet. Qurei had been trying to cobble together a Cabinet for weeks.

The decision frees him to take immediate action against the militant groups and to comply with Israel's demands.

Zalman Shoval, another Sharon adviser, said that because of US opposition Israel for now has chosen military action over the more controversial act of expelling Arafat.

"I think it was clear to us that we could carry out some kind of military action without raising US and European opposition," Shoval said. "But going after Arafat was something else."

Shoval, a former ambassador to Washington and a longtime member of Sharon's Likud party, suggested that Arafat be brought to trial in Israel rather than be deported.

In addition to the airstrikes on Syria, Israeli helicopters also launched missiles at two targets in Gaza: a small empty house in the city and an Islamic Jihad militant in the Boureij refugee camp. Neither incident led to Palestinian casualties.

Ephraim Sneh, an Israeli member of parliament with the opposition Labor party, defended the airstrike on Syria, but said that Israel must make a genuine effort to get back to the bargaining table with the Palestinians and Syria in order to end the violence.

Globe correspondent Alon Tuval contributed to this report.