20000202

Barak warns Syria for attack, mulling retaliation

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, mulling retaliation for the bloodiest Lebanese guerrilla attack against Israeli troops in months, said Syria must curb the violence to give their troubled peace process a chance.

Barak summoned his security cabinet late on Monday to discuss possible military responses to the deaths of three soldiers in a Hizbollah attack on an Israeli outpost in the zone Israel occupies in south Lebanon, officials said.

In a carefully worded statement released after the four-hour meeting, Barak said:

"Israel will not be able to conduct peace talks while the Syrians are not preventing Hizbollah from operating against the Israeli army...the lack of a climate for peace will hamper the conduct of negotiations with the Syrians."

Syria is the main power broker in south Lebanon, where Israel has maintained a military presence since 1978.

Israeli army chiefs, frustrated by government restraint, urged Barak at the meeting to authorise a retaliatory blitz. They arrived armed with maps highlighting possible attack sites, Ha'aretz newspaper said on Tuesday.

It quoted the generals as saying that an escalation in Hizbollah activity meant the army "is now obliged to act".

While Barak's response fell short of army demands, cabinet minister and former army deputy chief of staff Matan Vilnai told Israeli television on Tuesday:

Under strong U.S. prodding, Israeli-Syrian talks resumed in December after a 45-month break. The talks have since foundered over Syria's demand Israel commit itself to ceding the Golan Heights, captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh brushed aside charges action by Israel could further sour Syrian-Israeli relations.

Barak left little doubt that a military response would follow at an appropriate time. "Israel will not allow this escalation to continue -- we have known in the past and we will know now to smite in the place and time that we choose."

Israeli warplanes and SLA militia gunners have pounded suspected guerrilla positions since the Monday attack.-Reuters