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Golan Heights -- former Syrian gun aimed at a settlement (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 8, 2007 |
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Following a security cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reassured the country that a war with Syria is unlikely. Neither side is planning an attack, the prime minister said.
"But there is concern that someone might mistakenly think that there will be an offensive and a war which no one is interested in," he added. "Therefore, we must prepare for any scenario, so that Israel can be ready."
This meeting with the sixth in the past six weeks, in what Olmert reiterated was preparation for the possibility of a Syrian miscalculation regarding Israel's intentions.
In an effort to reassure Syria, Olmert underscored that such meetings were being held "in order to prepare for any scenario, and nonetheless, Israel is trying to avoid drawing the wrong conclusions."
The ministers discussed at length how to secure at-risk sites and the level of preparedness for steps in retaliation to a "Syrian scenario," according to the Jerusalem Post.
In the last government meeting, the head of the research division of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, said that Syrian President Bashar Assad is preparing for a war with Israel, but that does not mean that he intends to initiate it.
According to Baidatz, Assad has ordered to increase production of long-range missiles and has instructed the army to position its anti-tank missiles closer to the Syrian border with Israel, on the Golan Heights.
However Baidatz told the cabinet that although Assad is "preparing the Syrian army for the possibility of a military conflict with Israel, on the other hand, he is not ruling out the possibility of reaching a political settlement with Israel."
Recently, Syria has been sending mixed signals to Israel. While Assad makes peace overtures to Olmert, he continues to fund Hezbollah and threaten to use "resistance" against Israel until the Golan Heights is returned, according to Ynet.
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