Israel has secretly warned
Syria that it may
strike the country if Hizbullah
attacks the
Jewish state, Reuters reported.
In early February Hizbullah threatened Israel with revenge
following the assassination of the group's chief of operations,
Imad Mughniyeh.
According to senior Israeli and European officials quoted
by the news agency, later that month Israel secretly
conveyed a message to Damascus through a third
party that it would hold it accountable for any
Hizbullah assault.
A European source said the message made it clear
that Syria could be targeted, even if Hizbullah
attacked from Lebanese soil.
The sources said Israel was mainly concerned
that the organization would barrage the
north with rockets in the event of a large-scale
operation in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile an unnamed British official told the news
agency that any flare-up in the north would be "a disaster."
"The death of Mughniyeh [and] the threatened Hizbullah
retaliation does leave a specter of a wider regional conflict,"
he said, adding that Israeli-Syrian peace talks under the
circumstances were unlikely. "There's an interest on both
sides but I think it's very difficult to move forward on it."
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