Reuters
JERUSALEM
(AP) - Israel delivered its most severe warning yet to Syria's
new ruler, saying it holds President Bashar Assad directly responsible
for renewed Lebanese guerrilla attacks on the Jewish state and
will retaliate harshly.
Syria has
given Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas the green light to carry out
cross-border attacks, said Israel's deputy defense minister, Ephraim
Sneh.
``I think
that Bashar Assad is aware of the differences in strength between
Israel and Syria,'' Sneh told Israel's army radio. ``If there
is a renewal of terrorist activity, we will stop it immediately
and through more severe actions.''
With its warnings,
Israel is apparently trying to prevent the opening of a ``second
front'' while battling the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
Sneh singled
out Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, as responsible for
a spate of attacks along the Israeli-Lebanese border, which included
the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers earlier this month.
The daily
Haaretz said Israel's military commanders would recommend strikes
on Syrian targets inside Lebanon if attacks along the border continue.
Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak has tried to avoid a military response that
would escalate regional tensions, choosing instead to use diplomatic
channels to pressure Syria and Lebanon to refrain from futher
attacks.
Hezbollah
leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah ``has presented Ehud Barak with
a difficult dilemma: Respond and the region will boil in anger;
don't respond and the attacks will continue,'' said a Haaretz
commentary.
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