Israel attacks Islamic Jihad base in Syria
The Israeli army attacked an Islamic Jihad training base in Syria in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant that killed 19 people, the army said in a statement today.
The attack, which occurred late yesterday or early today, took place at a base deep in Syrian territory used by several terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the army said in a statement.
Israel radio said the attack hit the Ein Saher camp.
The attack came several hours after a Palestinian woman wrapped in explosives entered a beachside restaurant in Haifa during the busy lunchtime hour and blew herself up, killing 19 people.
Islamic Jihad admitted the massacre.
“Following the attack, the army has started operating against those behind the attack, those who support (terror) and those who use the strategy of terror in order to harm citizens of Israel,” the army said in a statement.
Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group responsible for many attacks against Israel, enjoys support from other countries, including Iran and Syria, the statement said.
“Syria is a state that supports terror, that constantly tries to frustrate efforts to bring calm and stability to the region and gives cover in its territory and capital to the terror organisations that act against Israeli citizens,” the army said.
“Israel will not accept the rules of the game that the terrorists are trying to dictate, and will act with determination against all who harm its citizens, in accordance with the right to self defence and defence of the state,” it said.
In 2001, Israeli warplanes blasted a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power broker, killing three Syrian soldiers.
That strike was the first in five years against the Syrian military and came in retaliation for an attack by Syrian-backed guerrillas in which an Israeli soldier was killed.
