President Bashar Assad asserted the first Israeli airstrike deep inside Syria in 30 years will enhance his country's political standing in the region.
But analysts say Assad is seeking a face-saving exit to play down the crisis and avoid criticism at home that his army of more than 300,000 is unable to retaliate for the attack on a Palestinian camp near Damascus.
"After all these years of rhetoric, about being tough against Israel, how do you sell it to the Syrian people that Israel attacks and Syria does nothing?" said Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor for Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments magazine in London.
In his first public comments since Sunday's attack by Israeli fighter-bombers, Assad insisted on Tuesday in an interview with Al Hayat newspaper that the bombing hasn't diminished Syria politically.
"There is no doubt that the role Syria plays in the various issues in our region is painful to this [Israeli] government. What happened was a failed Israeli attempt to undercut this role," Assad told the London-based paper.
"We can, with full confidence, say that what happened will only make Syria's role more effective and influential in events in the region -- contrary to what this government wants," he added.
The airstrike hit what Israel maintained was a training camp for Islamic Jihad militants about 25km from Damascus. Villagers said the camp belonged to Palestinian militants but had been abandoned years ago.
The attack came in response to a suicide bombing Saturday in Israel that killed at least 19 people. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Syria presented a motion to the UN Security Council, calling on the world body to condemn Israel, but the council postponed a vote. The US has warned it would veto any motion that did not also condemn the suicide bombing.
Assad suggested his country will not directly retaliate for the attack and accused Israel of trying to provoke a wider conflict.
"Israel's attack on Syria is an attempt by the Israeli government to extract itself from the big dilemma it's facing through its attempt to terrorize Syria and also drag Syria and the region into other wars," Assad told the paper.
"This [Israeli] government is a war government and the justification for its existence is war," he said.
Sunday's strike was the first Israeli attack deep into Syria since the 1973 war. In 1985, two Israeli warplanes patrolling over Lebanon chased two Syrian jets into Syrian airspace and shot them down.
Even if Syria were to choose a military response for Sunday's attack, it couldn't match Israeli power.
According to The Military Balance, Syria has 319,000 active servicemen, including about 215,000 in the army. It estimates Syria's reserves at 354,000.
The report says Israel has 161,500 active servicemen, including 120,000 in the army. It estimates Israel's reserves at 425,000, including some who are recalled for specific operations.
However, Mark Stalker, an official at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, which puts out the book, said the Israeli army has far more modern equipment and better training than Syria's.
He said Syria is still relying heavily on old former Soviet army equipment that it lacks the money to replace.
Assad, 38, suggested Syria had other means to respond to the strike.
"We are not a superpower, but we are not a weak state either. We're not a country without cards. We are not a state that can be ignored in the issues under discussion," Assad told Al Hayat.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
FIRST STAGE: Hamas has agreed to release 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 ‘national security prisoners’ as well as 1,700 Gazans, but has resisted calls to disarm Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas’ network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said yesterday. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the operation would be conducted under an “international mechanism” led by the US. “Israel’s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,” Katz said. “I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission,” he added. Hamas operates a network of tunnels under Gaza, allowing its fighters to operate out of sight of Israeli reconnaissance. Some have passed under
RSS