Israel Playing Dangerous Game

Syrian Air Defenses Fire on Israeli Jets

- By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

(06-28) 13:14 PDT DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) --

Air defenses fired on Israeli warplanes that entered Syrian airspace early Wednesday and forced them to flee, state TV said as Mideast tensions escalated over the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

State-run Syrian television said two Israeli planes flew near Syria's Mediterranean coast early Wednesday, and "national air defenses opened fire in the direction of the planes, and they dispersed."

The announcement did not mention a claim by Israeli military officials that the fighter jets buzzed the summer residence of President Bashar Assad in the coastal city of Latakia.

The officials said on condition of anonymity that Assad was targeted because of the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group holding Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, in the Gaza Strip. Syria hosts Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' exiled supreme leader.

"The overflight by two Israeli planes near the Syrian shores is an aggressive act and a provocation," the television news said, quoting an Information Ministry official it did not identify.

Syria denied the Damascus-based Hamas leadership had any connection to the kidnapping.

"If the goal of this (overflight) is to blame the political leadership of Hamas for the abduction of the Israeli soldier, then Israel is making a big mistake that goes beyond logic," the Information Ministry official said, according to the TV report.

The official said the abduction "is an operation that could not have taken place by remote control."

He said the overflight "reflects Israel's failure and its domestic troubles, which it is trying to export to the outside as it makes accusations against others."

Wednesday's flyover was the second time Israel has buzzed Assad's summer palace. In August 2003, warplanes reportedly flew so low that windows in the palace shattered. At the time, Israel said the flyover was aimed at pressuring Assad to dismantle Palestinian militant groups based in his country.

In October 2003, an Israeli warplane bombed an Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria. It was the first attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades.

The airstrike followed a suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed 19 Israelis in a restaurant.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks.

But this was a rare example of the Syrian military firing back on Israeli forces. The two militaries clashed in Lebanon in the 1980s during that country's civil war.

In 1996, Israeli warplanes raided positions in Beirut in response to rocket fire by the militant group Hezbollah. During those raids, Israel said Syrian air defenses fired on its planes, so the Israeli air force demolished a Syrian base.

But since then, the Syrians — whose military is far outmatched by Israel's — are not known to have fired on Israeli forces.

Wednesday's overflights came as Israel bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, knocking out electricity and water supplies for most of its 1.3 million residents. Three bridges also were destroyed to keep militants from moving Shalit.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government and the militants holding Shalit called for a prisoner swap with Israel, saying the Gaza offensive would not secure the soldier's release.

Israel has refused to negotiate.

Associated Press reporter Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Original article posted here.