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| Syrian President Assad, right, is seen with Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi Saturday during an official visit by an
Iraqi delegation to Syria. Louai Beshara |
Syria still weighs retaliation for Israeli raid
Officials in Damascus say that another strike would be met with a Hizbullah-style counterattack.
By Hugh Naylor | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the October 3, 2007 edition
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Damascus, Syria - It's been nearly a month since the predawn Israeli airstrike on northern Syria. And still no retaliation from Damascus.
However, President Bashar al-Assad, who claims Israeli jets hit an unmanned military facility in the Sept. 6 raid, told the BBC Monday that Syria is still considering the appropriate response. He said it wouldn't have to be "missile-for-missile," but could be political.
Officials and political analysts here say that in the event of another strike, Syria is preparing to respond using the guerrilla-style tactics of its Lebanese ally Hizbullah. They say Syria, no match for Israel's war machine, is instead adopting the tactics that helped the Lebanese Shiite militia emerge undefeated in its bout with Israel in last summer's war in Lebanon.
"If the Israeli side launches attacks, believe me we will be very harsh in our response," says Mohammad Habbash, a member of the Syrian parliament. "It will be a guerrilla war. There will be guerrilla warfare coming from Lebanon and Syria, and it will be very harsh."
Unconfirmed media reports say Syria has been training its soldiers to fight in the mountainous southern edges of the country, near its border with Israel, using unconventional tactics more in line with a militia than a standing army. A steady supply of rudimentary rockets, which can be transported and launched on short notice and with little manpower, much like those unfurled on Israel by Hizbullah during the 2006 war, are said by Syrian political analysts to be making their way to the south.
"This is hit-and-run war; you don't need a scud missile to do this. The basic philosophy here is defending the land," says a government adviser who, asking to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to discuss the issue, confirmed these reports.
The adviser says that, like Hizbullah, Syria would aim to inflict "civil-economic losses on Israel" with surprise rocket attacks, with the intention of using fear to bring Israeli life to a standstill in a potential conflict.
Officials here insist, however, that they prefer the diplomatic track to war. President Assad has on numerous occasions voiced his willingness to enter peace negotiations with Israel. But Syrian officials have also been suggesting recently that their patience is wearing thin, particularly with Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1967.
Assad said in the BBC interview that Syria would not accept an invitation by the US to attend a November Middle East peace conference at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., unless the issue of the Golan Heights was on the table. "If they don't talk about Syrian-occupied territory, no, there's no way for Syria to go there."
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