SYRIAN TROOP MOVEMENTS A RESPONSE TO ISRAELI WARNING
By WebToday Editor Lawrence J. Joyce
(WebToday, April 5, 2002)-- Following Israeli charges that Hezbollah has launched short-range rocket attacks into Israel from Lebanon in recent days, Syria on Wednesday shifted the positions of the 20,000 troops which it has stationed in Lebanon. The troop movement is seen as being an apparent response to Israeli warnings that harsh counter measures will follow if the rocket attacks don't stop soon. The attacks have already drawn a response from the Israeli air force against a southern Lebanese town. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon, denies any knowledge of the attacks. However, Syria is seen as being anxious at this time to avoid any chance of a direct confrontation between its troops and Israeli forces. On two occasions last year, Israeli planes hit
Syrian troops in Lebanon in response to attacks Hezbollah had made on Israel. Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976 to help stop a civil war which was then raging, and which lasted until 1990. Since then Syria has dominated its ally Lebanon militarily and politically. Its troops have remained in Lebanon at the behest of the Lebanese government and Moslem-majority population, though cries from the Christian minority in Lebanon did prompt Syria to withdraw its troops from the Lebanese capital of Beirut last year. Lebanon borders Israel to the north, along the Mediterranean Sea. Syria lies immediately to the east of Lebanon, occupying part of Israel's northeast border. Lebanon and Syria entered into a treaty in 1989 stating that Syria would withdraw all of its troops within two years, but Syria has never made a move to honor that treaty, and the Lebanese government has made no demand that the Syrians leave.
Now, however, Syria is rushing its troops in central Lebanon to the east, to areas along the Syrian border. It is abandoning its key bases along the Beirut-Damascus highway, which connects the capitals of the two countries. The move is not only seen as being one which will decrease the chance of a direct confrontation with the Israeli military, but also one which will enable the Syrian forces to better defend themselves and their own country. One other possible implication of this move, however, is that it may draw Syrian forces together to better position them for an invasion of Israel should a full-scale Arab-Israeli war break out, similar to what was seen in 1967 (the "Six-Day War") and 1973 (the "October War"). The entire Syrian military was severely beaten by Israeli forces in 1967, and Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights of Syria, which Israel later claimed to have annexed as part of Israel under Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Israel still occupies the Golan Heights, but its claim to sovereignty over that land is not recognized internationally. Syrian tanks did make a substantial breakthrough in 1973, however, posing a grave threat to the Jewish state. Israel responded forcefully and successfully, recapturing the Golan Heights, and prompting one Israeli leader to declare at the time, "They [the Syrians] shall find out that the road from Damascus to Jerusalem is the same road which leads from Jerusalem to Damascus."
You may email Lawrence Joyce at: germwarfarebook@aol.com
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