Advanced Search
Business | Metro | Nation | World | Sports | Features | Specials | Delta Stories
 
 
Syria will intervene if Israeli troop approach
24/7/2006 9:48

Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said yesterday that Syria will not sit tight if Israeli ground troops invade Lebanon and approach his country, the official SANA news agency reported.

"If Israel invades Lebanon over ground and comes near to us, which threatens the national security (of Syria), Syria will not sit tight," Bilal was quoted as saying in an interview with a Spanish newspaper.

Meanwhile, the minister criticized remarks of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that her country rejects a ceasefire.

"It is unjustified for the United States not to work for a ceasefire," said the minister, who termed the remarks as "waiting for Israel to completely destroy Lebanon and for it to have to be evacuated completely."

"Israel would not be the only player in the region," Bilal said, while asserting Syria's efforts to work for a just and comprehensive peace in the region.

Syria, which supports Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, has condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon and called for a ceasefire as soon as possible.

Israel has been battling along its northern border with Hezbollah over the past 12 days in an effort to bring back its captive soldiers and remove Hezbollah from the border area. The conflict has killed more than 360 Lebanese and 36 Israelis.



Xinhua News