Confronting Damascus’ Duplicity

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday June 09, 2002 11:02 by Michael Freund

Following is an analysis column of mine from today's Jerusalem Post on holding Syria accountable for terror against Israel. Your comments and feedback are welcome.

Anyone who thought that Syria’s ascension to the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council on June 1 would perhaps refine or enhance its roguish behavior was quickly disabused of that notion this past Wednesday.

Just four days after Syria assumed the coveted and powerful diplomatic position, a Damascus-based terrorist group took responsibility for blowing up a bus in Israel, killing 17 Israelis and wounding dozens of others.

If Syrian strongman Bashar Assad was fearful of how the world might react to the latest atrocity committed by a group under his patronage, he certainly did not show it. The Syria Times, the English-language mouthpiece of the Assad regime, yesterday labeled the bus bombing a “martyrdom operation” and said that it was the work of “the patriotic Palestinian group Islamic Jihad”.

And so, Assad continues to enjoy the best of both worlds, relishing the propaganda value of sitting at the head of the UN’s most important body even as he provides a cozy haven for terrorism back home.

Oddly enough, however, Assad’s success thus far in escaping the blame for his actions owes a lot to the Israeli government. By failing to make a forceful case in public regarding Syria’s direct involvement in terror, Israel has essentially let Damascus off the hook.

Indeed, immediately after Wednesday’s deadly bus bombing, the government pointed the finger of blame entirely at Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. While Arafat is most assuredly responsible for the mass murder that took place on Wednesday - for the simple reason that he has consistently refused over the past nine years to disarm, disband and demolish Islamic Jihad cells in the territories – it is inaccurate to portray him as the only one bearing such responsibility. Assad, too, must also be held accountable.

After all, Islamic Jihad is not an underground organization in Syria. Its offices in Damascus operate freely and openly, and it receives various types of assistance from the Iranian and Syrian governments.

Ramadan Salah, Islamic Jihad’s leader, is regularly interviewed by Western and Arab journalists at the group’s headquarters. Presumably, if the Associated Press can find Salah, the Syrian security forces can as well. Salah is also free to travel abroad, and he recently participated in a terrorist conference held in Teheran.

That Syria is involved in supporting and promoting terror is nothing new, as the US State Department’s most recent Patterns of Global Terrorism report made amply clear.

But the fact that Syria would permit Islamic Jihad to carry out a major attack now, while American envoys are present in the region and while Syria’s UN Ambassador basks in the glow of his new position back in New York, indicates a dangerous new level of Syrian brazenness.

Clearly, Assad feels that he has very little to lose by giving Palestinian terror groups in Judea, Samaria and Gaza a freer hand to carry out attacks against Israel. He knows that the brunt of the criticism for such actions will be directed against Arafat, so what incentive does he have to rein in the extremists?

Hence, it is essential that Israel and the United States turn up the heat on Assad and let him know that he will pay a price if he continues to sponsor terror. Sure, America is still busy cleaning up Afghanistan and preparing for the march to Baghdad. But a failure to take strong action against Damascus now will allow Syria to continue to sow instability in the Middle East, a region that can ill-afford much more of it.

American allies such as France, which maintain relatively good relations with Syria, must also be made to understand that they are courting disaster by courting a regime that, like the Taliban in Afghanistan, is both undemocratic and plays host to terrorist organizations.

In October 1998, Turkey threatened to use military force if Syria did not shut down the offices and training camps of the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group. The PKK, like Islamic Jihad, enjoyed a welcome mat from the Syrian regime, using its territory as a base from which it launched attacks.

Once Syria saw that Turkey was serious and intended to back up its threats with action, Damascus quickly capitulated and signed an agreement with the Turkish government on October 20, 1998 effectively closing down all PKK activities on Syrian soil.

The Turkish example is proof that when confronted with determination and resolve, Syria can be compelled to back down. And back down it must, because Syria’s behavior is claiming innocent Israeli lives and driving the region toward a conflagration.

Article 24 of the UN Charter states that the primary responsibility of the Security Council is “the maintenance of international peace and security”. Though Syria now heads that august body, it actually poses a grave threat to the very peace and security it is supposed to be maintaining. The time has come for the US and Israel to treat it accordingly.