Thu, Oct 09, 2003 page7

• Israel enhances Syria's standing, president states

  CRISIS DENIED Syrian President Bashar Assad is insisting that the Israeli attack has not diminished his country's international or regional standing at all

  • AP
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  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.
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