.Arabs Back Syria After Israeli Flyover
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - The flyover by Israeli warplanes that buzzed President Bashar Assad's summer home may have embarrassed Syria, but it also rallied Arab support around Damascus.
Even Lebanon's anti-Syrian prime minister, Fuad Saniora, put aside his differences with Assad to send expressions of sympathy to Syria, which has been largely isolated since the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel, and Qatar, which has also differed with Syria over the peace process, did the same.
"We might not agree with Syria on everything, but the least we could do in these circumstances is to take a clear stance, not (just) talk," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani said on Al-Jazeera television.
It was that kind of attention that Damascus basks in.
The reaction was typical of the public Arab response to any Israeli aggression or action against a fellow Arab nation, one that Syria may try to capitalize on to prove it is still a vital player in the region despite efforts to marginalize it since Hariri's slaying.
Egypt has turned to Syria, asking it to use its influence with the Palestinian militant Hamas to locate Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas-linked militants on Sunday, according to a diplomat.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was not clear whether Syria has complied with the request from Egypt, which is spearheading negotiations to free Shalit.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said "the Syrians are definitely a party" to the crisis, pointing to Hamas' presence in the country.
"They have a responsibility to act responsibly to bring this to a peaceful conclusion," Ereli said. He would not comment on the Israeli overflight.
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Syria protested the overflight and Israel's incursion into Gaza, the official state news agency said. "At a time when Israel is seeking to aggravate the situation in all parts of the region, there came its provocation against Syria," the letter said.
Syria has long hosted radical Palestinian factions and since the late 1990s became home for Hamas leaders who were expelled from Jordan. Assad has resisted U.S. demands to close Palestinian militant offices, facing sanctions for refusing to do so. He maintains he cannot ask the leaders to leave because they are unable to return to Palestinian lands.
But the radical Palestinian presence - as well as Syria's support for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon - gives Damascus influence and leverage that it has always hoped to use to improve its hand in any possible peace negotiations with Israel to reclaim the Golan Heights. Syria lost the territory to Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
Publicly, the Syrians say they do not interfere with the Palestinians, and it is unclear how much influence Assad wields with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who Israel says masterminded the kidnapping.
Israel's flyover early Wednesday over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia was meant as a message to Syria to use its influence with Hamas to release Shalit, whose capture precipitated the latest cycle of violence in the Middle East.
Syria has said the Damascus-based Hamas leadership could not have had a hand in an abduction that took place in another country. Mashaal denies any role.
MyWay
The should have blown the place to bits. They should have forced the Syrians to fight out in the open, and not from behind their proxies. They want war, the Israelis should have explained it to them in words that they understand.
Even Lebanon's anti-Syrian prime minister, Fuad Saniora, put aside his differences with Assad to send expressions of sympathy to Syria, which has been largely isolated since the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel, and Qatar, which has also differed with Syria over the peace process, did the same.
"We might not agree with Syria on everything, but the least we could do in these circumstances is to take a clear stance, not (just) talk," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani said on Al-Jazeera television.
It was that kind of attention that Damascus basks in.
The reaction was typical of the public Arab response to any Israeli aggression or action against a fellow Arab nation, one that Syria may try to capitalize on to prove it is still a vital player in the region despite efforts to marginalize it since Hariri's slaying.
Egypt has turned to Syria, asking it to use its influence with the Palestinian militant Hamas to locate Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas-linked militants on Sunday, according to a diplomat.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was not clear whether Syria has complied with the request from Egypt, which is spearheading negotiations to free Shalit.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said "the Syrians are definitely a party" to the crisis, pointing to Hamas' presence in the country.
"They have a responsibility to act responsibly to bring this to a peaceful conclusion," Ereli said. He would not comment on the Israeli overflight.
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Syria protested the overflight and Israel's incursion into Gaza, the official state news agency said. "At a time when Israel is seeking to aggravate the situation in all parts of the region, there came its provocation against Syria," the letter said.
Syria has long hosted radical Palestinian factions and since the late 1990s became home for Hamas leaders who were expelled from Jordan. Assad has resisted U.S. demands to close Palestinian militant offices, facing sanctions for refusing to do so. He maintains he cannot ask the leaders to leave because they are unable to return to Palestinian lands.
But the radical Palestinian presence - as well as Syria's support for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon - gives Damascus influence and leverage that it has always hoped to use to improve its hand in any possible peace negotiations with Israel to reclaim the Golan Heights. Syria lost the territory to Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
Publicly, the Syrians say they do not interfere with the Palestinians, and it is unclear how much influence Assad wields with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who Israel says masterminded the kidnapping.
Israel's flyover early Wednesday over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia was meant as a message to Syria to use its influence with Hamas to release Shalit, whose capture precipitated the latest cycle of violence in the Middle East.
Syria has said the Damascus-based Hamas leadership could not have had a hand in an abduction that took place in another country. Mashaal denies any role.
MyWay
The should have blown the place to bits. They should have forced the Syrians to fight out in the open, and not from behind their proxies. They want war, the Israelis should have explained it to them in words that they understand.
posted by madtom at 4:27 PM
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