BY NORM DIXON

Israel's government on October 5 launched a missile attack on Syria, claiming that it was acting in “self-defence”. The assault was the first Israeli strike into Syrian territory in 30 years. Israel declared that the missile strike was part of the global “war on terror”.

The missiles struck what Israel called a “terrorist training camp” near Damascus, which was supposedly run by Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian group that claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Haifa on October 4, which killed 19 people and wounded dozens more.

However, the US State Department's most recent report on international terrorism, released in April, did not mention the facility. A “senior US administration official” told the October 6 New York Times that the evidence offered by Israel to justify the attack was “very amorphous”. Syria denied the attacked facility had a military function. In fact, according to the dormant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, to which the site belonged, it had been deserted for years.

US President George Bush immediately condoned Israel's blatant and unprovoked violation of international law. “Israel's got a right to defend herself. Israel must not feel constrained in defending the homeland”, Bush said later on October 5. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, Washington has been increasing its pressure on Syria. It has also been pushing the Syria Accountability Act, which will impose sanctions on Damascus.

Following a visit to Syria in April by US secretary of state Colin Powell, Damascus asked Hamas and Islamic Jihad to close their offices in the country.

When Syria called for a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's attack, only the US representative John Negroponte opposed it. He told the council that the US “believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism... We have consistently told Syria it must cease harbouring terrorists”.

“Do Palestinian suicide bombers really need to practice suicide bombing?”, asked respected Middle East commentator Robert Fisk in the October 6 British Independent. “Does turning a switch need that much training? Surely the death of a brother or a cousin by the Israeli army is all the practice that is needed.”

From Green Left Weekly, October 15, 2003.
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