Report: Tension in Syria amid IDF drill
Sources tell Qatari daily Damascus fears military exercise in Golan may develop into strike, say it is part of Israeli preparations for another war against Syria, Lebanon
The Syrian leadership has taken several preventive measures fearing a drill held by the IDF in the Golan Heights may develop into a military strike, sources in Damascus told Qatar's Al-Watan newspaper Wednesday.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said while observing the drill Tuesday 'it's not by chance that the army is training in the Golan so extensively. We are seeing a significant strengthening by Hizbullah in the past few years. We're monitoring any possibility of a shift in balance (of power) due to the Syrians supplying Hizbullah with advances weapons' systems.
"We're doing what needs to be done, preparation wise. I'd rather not elaborate. If we need to take action we'll be ready," he said.
A Syrian source was quoted by Al-Watan as saying that the drill "overrides the lessons drawn from the July 2006 war (Second Lebanon War) Israel waged against Hizbullah. It (drill) appears to be part of Israel's preparations to launch a new war against Syria and Lebanon.
According George Jabor, a former advisor at the presidential palace in Damascus, there is a direct link between the IDF drill and the Russia-Georgia conflict, as Israel had admitted to supplying weapons to Tbilisi.
Jabor warned that the United States may look to increase tensions in the Golan Heights "as an indirect response to the war in the Caucasus region", adding that the drill hindered the Turkish-mediated talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.
