Is Israel preparing for a new attack or not?

Al-Manar special - Hasan Hijazi - Translated

"20/09/2007 Is Israel preparing for a new attack or not? A question that became valid after a sequence of pacification letters being sent by Israel to Syria. Indeed, Israeli jets breached Syrian sovereignty after several pacification letters coinciding with broader Israeli maneuvers in the occupied Golan Heights, after they were previously shifted to center and south Palestine.

Are they really pacification letters or new tricks hiding an Israeli aggression against Syria? Before the Israeli breach of Syrian airspace, the Israeli government sent several pacification letters to Damascus one of which was delivered by EU foreign policy Chief Javier Solana on the same day Israel violated Syria's airspace.

Today, Israel is still sending pacification letters to Syria to reassure it that the Israeli army broad maneuvering in the Golan Heights since Tuesday doesn't hide aggressive intentions against Damascus but aims at preventing more tensions, according to Maarif newspaper. What causes suspicion is that Israel had announced a transfer of its maneuvering from Golan to central and southern regions in order to relieve tensions as well as send pacification letters to Syria. However Israel returned to maneuvering in the Golan again.

The military pacification letter was complementary to the letters sent by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli president Shemon Perez. It aims at absorbing the Syrian reaction to the Israeli breach. Bringing the maneuvering back to the Golan Heights may indirectly signal to Israel's readiness to deal with any Syrian reaction, as promised. Haaretz newspaper had mentioned that the Israeli army remains relatively on high alert in the Golan area fearing the dangers of a Syrian response.
Yo'af Limor, an Israeli military correspondent said that tension with Syria is ongoing because nobody knows how president al-Assad will decide to respond. "He will surely respond through similar attacks to that of Buenos Iris and London and the attempt to shoot down Al-A'l jet 20 years ago. All this causes pressure among Israelis.
Israeli media and academic communities accused Olmert of being behind leaks to foreign press which talked about several scenarios to what was called "the aerial operation inside Syrian territories" in an attempt to exploit the incident in order to raise his population which caved in following the July defeat in Lebanon. "