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| By israelinsider staff June 7, 2007 |
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Damascus is open to renewing peace talks with Israel, though not entirely optimistic, a Syrian official stated Thursday, apparently in response to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Wednesday calls for a renewal of negotiations.
"Our stance remains as it was," stated the Syrian official. "We are ready to renew negotiations for peace, and interested in working for peace."
The official was speaking to French news agency Agence France-Presse.
According to the official, "Syria is following the Israeli announcements very closely," referring to Olmert's previous comments, but emphasized that "We don't have any high hopes that things will change."
On Wednesday, Olmert called for a renewal of peace talks with Damascus, and expressed that Israel was not looking for war with Syria.
"I'm willing to negotiate directly with the Syrians, but without preconditions," stated Olmert during a security cabinet meeting on the state of Israel's northern border.
In a meeting in Bucharest with the Spanish and Romanian foreign ministers, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog reiterated that Israel is not looking for war with Syria, and expressed his hope that Syria would not escalate the situation, pulling the whole region into war.
He said that Israel's major problem with Syria in terms of peace talks was its ties to Iran, which is shown by its sustained support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Herzog said, however, that Israel is ready for "honest" peace talks with Syria.
IDF chief: Israel preparing for escalation on northern front; Peretz: No indication of war in near future
During a visit to the Shizafon army base in the south of Israel, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Tuesday that the IDF was preparing for an escalation on the Palestinian front, as well as in the north.
"The IDF is preparing for an escalation on both the Palestinian and northern fronts," stated Ashkenazi.
"The IDF's goal is to improve our readiness, while at the same time continuing the war on terror. The display seen here today is quite impressive; only one element is lacking - an enemy," Ashkenazi said, referring to the large-scale army drill being practiced.
As far as a war in the near future, Ashkenazi commented, "I do not know if a war will break out or not, but the residents of Israel count on us - and I count on you."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who was also at the army base Tuesday, reiterated that the IDF was only training, and that there was no indication of a war in the near future.
"IDF is continually training and I hope the Syrians won't misinterpret that," he said.
"We have no intelligence indicating that Syria is interested in starting a war," however, "I hope that the escalation in words does not bring about an escalation in actions," said Peretz.
The goal of this year's military drill is to conquer a model Syrian village. Last year's target was a model Palestinian village.
During a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset briefing, OC Military Intelligence Chief Maj. -Gen. Amos Yadlin also spoke on Syria, pointing out their current military preparations.
"Syria is making very real preparations, cleaning army posts, conducting large drills and strengthening defenses. They are reaching a state of readiness for war more than in the past, but this doesn't mean they'll be ready for war tomorrow. The Syrians have a very large quantity of long-range missiles. They do not need to move forces around to attack with these missiles," he stated.
According to the Jerusalem Post, " Within the IDF, movement of Syrian forces towards the Golan Heights border is considered a preliminary sign for potential escalation and allows the army time to prepare - usually 48 hours. Over the past few months the Syrian army raised its level of alert, thus effectively eroding most of the preliminary signs. Together with the long-range missiles mentioned by Yadlin, the implications of the latest developments are that Syria can potentially catch Israel by surprise."
Yadlin also mentioned Hamas, saying that the groups has Qassam rockets that can reach 13 kilometers. They also have Grad missiles that can reach 20 kilometers, which the group has not yet used against Israel. According to Yadlin, Hamas also has shoulder-held missiles that can reach 40 kilometers, and that the group could smuggle into Gaza. |
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