Israel Pressuring U.S.
to Take Aim at Syria?
Emergence of a New Near East?
April 16, 2003
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2003 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com
Israel is pressuring the United States to turn its
attention to Syria, and force Damascus to introduce
profound changes into the Syrian government. Encouraged
by the impressive U.S. victory over the Saddam Hussein
regime in Iraq, Israel views Syria as highly vulnerable
and the next step in the creation of a "New Near East,"
according to the right-of-center French news daily,
Le Figaro.
"The fall of Saddam Hussein is of enormous importance to Israel. His defeat deprived Syria of strategic depth, " said Israeli general Amos Gilad, cited in Le Figaro. As a result, Syrian president Bashar Assad "is isolated...(and) now it is necessary to introduce changes in Syria," Gilad asserted.
Ephraim Halevy, national security advisor and ex-director of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, is currently working with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to put forth Israel's position to U.S. leaders, reported Le Figaro.
Since America's victory in Iraq, Israel awaits "the emergence of a 'New Near East'" obtained through "American pressure," Le Figaro revealed.
Syria supported Saddam Hussein up until the fall of the regime, and Damascus is thought to be hiding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the scientists who designed them. Damascus, along with Iran, is a mainstay of the terror network Hezbollah, supplying weapons and giving refuge to Hezbollah operatives.
Israeli intelligence services state that Assad is using his support of Hezbollah to "assert himself in Syria and in the Arab world." "For Syria, Hezbollah is a source of legitimacy, a means to fight Israel without paying the price," declared an anonymous high-ranking security official quoted by Le Figaro.
Among the weapons Syria supplies to Hezbollah is a missile with a range of between thirty and forty-two miles, putting Hezbollah guerrillas within firing range of Israeli villages. "It has gone too far," proclaimed the security official cited by Le Figaro.
Syria's conventional forces are not impressive, with military equipment dating from the Soviet-era. The Syrian economy cannot bear the cost of modernization.
Chemical and biological weapons are relatively inexpensive, however, and Syria is known to have worked on their development for many years, including the nerve agents Sarin and perhaps VX. Syria, in cooperation with North Korea, is working on the production of an improved Scud missile with a range of nearly 450 miles.
Syria has never signed any international agreements
limiting the spread and production of chemical and biological
weapons, and refuses to supply the International Atomic
Energy Agency with details on its nuclear activities.
As with Iraq, Russia is Syria's most important supporter,
with close relations between Moscow and Damascus going
back to the Soviet era.
Copyright 2003
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