Massive weapons shipment in full violation of UN resolutions

It's been five days since Israel seized a cargo ship reportedly carrying enough weapons and munitions for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group to fight Israel for at least one month. And for the past five days, the United Nations has failed to take any action even though Iran was caught red-handed arming a terrorist group in full violation of binding U.N. resolutions.

The cargo ship originated in Iran and was headed for Syria. The Israeli army announced it found documentation showing Iran was the point of origin for some containers on the ship, with Syria as the intended destination.

Iran regularly attempts to send weapons to Syria, and from there the shipments are smuggled to Hezbollah bases in Lebanon, Israeli security officials said.

Israel last week put on full display its find of hundreds of tons of Iranian-supplied arms, including rockets – the largest-ever weapons cache captured by Israeli forces. Israel Radio reported that advanced anti-aircraft platforms were also on board, with Rani Ben-Yehuda, the deputy commander of Israel's navy, confirming the presence of "very advanced weaponry."

The Iranian arms shipment set sail in violation of U.N. Resolution 1701, a binding resolution which ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006 and prohibits the delivery of weapons to any entity in Lebanon but the Lebanese government. The shipment also breaks multiple international laws against funding and supporting terrorist organizations.

Israel's U.N. ambassador last week complained to the international body about Iran's blatant disregard for international law, but no response has been forthcoming from U.N. officials.

WorldNetDaily

Lebanese Opposition Agrees to Join Unity Government

Lebanon's opposition bloc of lawmakers, led by Hezbollah, said over the weekend it had agreed to join a unity government with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, a move that could end more than four months of political deadlock.

Mr. Hariri has yet to announce his 30-member cabinet, and a final accord could snag in coming days. But opposition officials have given their clearest signal yet that they will share power with the Western-backed bloc of lawmakers that Mr. Hariri led to victory in June parliamentary elections.

A deal, if consummated, would represent a significant easing of political tensions in Lebanon. It would also mark a deepening regional détente between two foreign powers that have exercised outsize sway in Lebanese politics: Saudi Arabia and Syria. Lebanon has long served as a battleground for bigger Middle East and global powers. The June election pitted Mr. Hariri's bloc, backed by the U.S., European allies and Saudi Arabia, against an opposition led by Hezbollah, the Shiite political and militant group supported by Syria and Iran.

...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Syria bans smoking in public places

Syria banned smoking inside public places on Sunday, the official news agency said. The decree, signed by President Bashar al-Assad, sets a fine of 2,000 ($46) Syrian pounds on anyone flouting the ban in cafes, pubs and restaurants, the SANA agency said. The ban extends to schools and public transport, and covers the nargile, or water pipe, a favorite among locals and tourists alike.

Turkey, Syria To Cooperate

After decades of enmity, Syria and Turkey have launched a strategic cooperation agreement. This month, the two neighbors signed an agreement meant that included cooperation in the defense and military sectors. The accord also saw the removal of restrictions along the border between Syria and Turkey.

“The brotherhood that exists between our people has been lifted to the political level with joint Cabinet meetings to be held between our two governments,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Officials said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan regarded Syria as part of Ankara’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy.

They said Ankara and Damascus have decided to establish what was termed a high-level strategic cooperation panel.“Turkey is your second country and the people of Turkey have opened their arms to welcome you without the need for a visa,” Davutoglu said.

At a joint news conference on Sept. 17, Davutoglu and his Syrian counterpart, Walid Mualem, agreed to lift customs on trade between the two countries. They said trucks that shuttle between Syrian and Turkey would be exempt from taxes. “This is the biggest demonstration of cooperation, solidarity and mutual trust,” Mualem said.

However, Bulent Alireza, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies commented that “the increasingly close relationship with Damascus, combined with the recent strains in the relationship with Tel Aviv, seems certain to raise additional questions about a possible change of direction in Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.”

In 2009, Syria and Turkey launched its first military exercise. The exercise took place along the border.The analysts said the Turkish military has not been enthusiastic over cooperation with Syria. Syria has long been seen by the Turkish military as a haven for the Kurdish Workers Party, which has been conducting a long time insurgency operation against the Turkish government.

Some senior Turkish officials said Syria has drafted plans to offer asylum to Kurdish Workers Party operatives. They said the Syrian offer, praised by neighboring Turkey, would demand that the PKK agents renounce violence and surrender their weapons. “Our fight against the terrorist organization would be affected a great deal if some of these Syrians quit the organization and climb down the mountain,” Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said.

In a briefing on Sept. 22, Basbug said the PKK contained an estimated 1,500 Syrian fighters, or more than one-third of the total insurgency force. He said Syrian members of the PKK were based in Iraq’s Kandil mountains.

The Syrian offer was announced by President Bashar Assad in mid-September. Assad said Syrian members of PKK could be allowed to return home if they renounce membership in the insurgency group.

LINK

Obama lifts some sanctions on Syria

Damascus welcomes a Washington measure to ease economic sanctions on Syria pertaining to civilian aviation, the Syrian envoy to Washington said.

Imad Mustafa, the Syrian ambassador to Washington, said the embassy was informed that Washington had lifted economic sanctions related to civilian aviation and the export of communications equipment to Syria, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reports.

The U.S. Congress passed the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 to punish Damascus for its support of terrorism, occupation of Lebanon and for the pursuit of a controversial weapons program.

Mustafa said U.S. President Barack Obama had suspended several of the sanctions measures, noting more restrictions could be lifted in the future. "We are focusing with President Obama's administration on using the U.S. president's executive authority to suspend the execution of the important articles in the sanctions law," he said.

Mustafa said the effort was part of a growing sign that Damascus was a vital player in the region. Obama has moved to restore U.S. relations in the Middle East as part of a broader policy move toward detente while Damascus pushes its own anti-isolationist efforts.

George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the region, was in Damascus during the weekend as part of a move by Washington to kick-start the Middle East peace process and improve bilateral ties with Syria.

theWashingtonPost

Syria declares emergency for drought-hit northeast

Syria on Monday adopted emergency measures, including food distribution, to help people in the drought-hit northeast of the country, the official Sana news agency said.

It said the authorities “have begun to distribute food aid in the worst drought-affected regions in the northeast” as part of a series of emergency steps. “Nearly 5,200 food rations have been distributed in Al-Hasakah and 15,000 more rations will arrive in the next few days,” said provincial governor Najib Salloum. He added that each food ration comprised “150 kilograms of flour, 25 kg sugar, 25 kg semolina, 10 kg lentils, two kg animal fat, one kg tea, and one kg oil, worth in total 6,000 Syrian pounds (128 dollars)” distributed to the worst-affected families.

Syria’s northeast has been affected by drought for the past three years and 160 villages were abandoned by their inhabitants in 2007 and 2008 because of the climate change, according to a report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) published last week.

khaleejtimes

Hillary Clinton offers handshake of friendship to Syria

It was a brief but significant gesture: in the hubbub of the Gaza donor’s conference in Egypt, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, shook hands and exchanged a few words yesterday with Walid Mouallem, her Syrian counterpart.

In the Middle East, where even the slightest gesture is closely scrutinised, the brief encounter was seen as a sign that Washington was prepared to mend fences with Syria, whose leader, Bashar Assad, was treated as a pariah by the Bush Administration.

Mr Mouallem said afterwards that the meeting “was short but very pleasant”, and that he was “happy it happened”. With the strict protocols at summits, such encounters rarely happen by chance; they are more frequently designed to send subtle but powerful messages. The Syrian Foreign Minister was standing at the door to the banquet room as delegates filed in for lunch at the conference to pledge more than $5 billion (£3.6 billion) for the reconstruction of Gaza. Mrs Clinton, on her first official trip to the region, had just promised to breathe new life into the peace process. She stopped in front of Mr Mouallem, shook his hand and exchanged a few words with him.

The meeting was all the more significant as Mrs Clinton had just told Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister, that she doubted that Iran – Syria’s main ally in the region – would respond to President Obama’s offer to engage with it after years of enmity. “We’re under no illusions,” Mrs Clinton said, according to an aide. “Our eyes are wide open on Iran.”

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the weekend that Iran had enough uranium to complete its nuclear weapons programme – an ambition Tehran has always denied. “We think they do, quite frankly,” the admiral said. “And Iran having nuclear weapons, I’ve believed for a long time, is a very, very bad outcome – for the region and for the world.”

If Iran does not respond to US overtures, the new Administration may try to lure Syria away from its partner, opening the door to a return to the diplomatic fold at a time when Syria’s economy is suffering from years of isolation.

Times Online

Naval Bases Planned for Libya, Syria

Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, a military official said Friday, in a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions.

"It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question," the unidentified military official told Itar-Tass.

"The political decision on this question has been taken," the official said. A Navy spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases.

"There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications [on bases] may have a negative effect on the way of these talks," Nogovitsyn said, Itar-Tass reported.

Analysts have said the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point.

National media have reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's visit to Moscow in October last year.Nogovitsyn said it was unclear when Russian naval bases abroad could open.

Syria Recognizes Lebanon's Sovereignty After 60 Years

Syria and Lebanon established diplomatic relations on Oct. 15, some 60 years after gaining independence from France in the mid-1940s.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, who signed the declaration jointly with Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed al-Muallem, said Lebanese-Syrian relations were friendlier than ever.

Syrian politicians, along with a majority of their Lebanese counterparts, say the exchange of embassies is only a formality between the two brotherly states. This may be so, but the fact remains that Syria has never considered Lebanon a sovereign state. On the other hand, it saw Lebanon as an inalienable part of "Greater Syria," which once included the territory of modern Lebanon.

It is true that Syria has played a positive role in Lebanon's recent history, in particular during the 1975-1990 civil war. It deployed 35,000 soldiers to Lebanon to disengage the warring sides and prevent the country's disintegration. However, the Syrians did not leave after the civil war ended, but remained in Lebanon "to keep the peace" until 2005.

This is why some Lebanese see their "Syrian brothers" as liberators, while others curse them as occupiers. Moreover, the ruling Lebanese clans have changed their attitude toward Syria more than once, at times seeing them as friends, and other times as enemies.

Bilateral relations were most recently shattered after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. The West immediately blamed the murder on Syria's military intelligence chief, Assef Shawkat, and declared a boycott of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's isolation lasted until French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared, at the Mediterranean Union Summit held in Paris last July and attended by the Syrian president, that Syria and Lebanon should establish diplomatic relations.

However, the two countries reconciled only when Lebanon elected a new president, Michel Suleiman, a figure of compromise between the pro-Western majority in parliament – the Mustaqbal movement led by Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Rafik Hariri – and the opposition Hezbollah movement, backed by Syrian and Iranian Shiites.

This compromise has cost the pro-Western forces in Lebanon dearly, given that, at a meeting in Doha last May, they gave the opposition the right to veto bills. At the same time, a national unity government of 30 ministers was formed, in which 16 represent the ruling coalition, 11 the opposition, and three are appointed by the president.

link

Neighbours to build diplomatic ties

Lebanon's foreign minister said he expects diplomatic ties with Syria to be fully established and ambassadors to be exchanged within two months. Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said the Cabinet will give its approval on the diplomatic ties on Thursday. Later, it will issue a separate decree for an embassy in Syria, he said. Mr Salloukh spoke two days after the presidents of Lebanon and Syria agreed to establish full diplomatic ties for the first time since the two countries gained independence from France more than 60 years ago.

The two countries also agreed to negotiate the demarcation of their border, a long standing demand of the Lebanese as they seek to normalise relations with their dominant larger neighbour.

The agreements on diplomatic ties and the border were announced during a landmark visit by President Michel Suleiman to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. It was the first visit by a Lebanese head of state in three years.

Will this new union be anything more than a giant photo opportunity?

Some signs are promising. Far from the cameras, there was real diplomacy, promising real results. Even if the timing and details are vague, Assad and his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman, agreed to open diplomatic offices in the two countries for the first time. And even if Assad refused to shake Olmert's hand and left the room when the Israeli spoke Sunday, the two men communicated indirectly through Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who became a messenger in the ornate hallways of the Hôtel de Crillon.

In an attempt to keep the momentum going, the next meeting - of the 43 foreign ministers - is already scheduled for November. "This was not a one-off," said Eric Chevallier, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry. "This was an important moment and it will be followed by many others. We are determined to keep it going."

Not everyone is so optimistic. Squabbling over whether or not to call Israel a "nation-state" almost deadlocked the union's founding declaration Sunday. In the end, diplomats skirted the issue by referring to two conferences last November, one in Annapolis, Maryland, and one in Lisbon, one of which did and one did not make a reference to the term nation-state. Since no one could agree, sensitive decisions on where the union secretariat will be based and which country will provide the first secretary were postponed until the November meeting.

And even some of the successes, said Dominique Moïsi of the French Institute of International Relations, have more to do with short-term interests than long-term vision. Olmert's political future is in doubt because of corruption allegations at home, reducing his credibility to deliver on long-term promises. Assad, who has been itching to get out of political isolation, wants to return to the center of the Middle East peace process. And Sarkozy, deeply unpopular in France, is in need of a triumph. "The meeting was triumphant, but I am very skeptical about the long-term ramifications," Moïsi said.

IHT

Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean

Projects to clean up the Mediterranean Sea, establish new sea routes and highways, and harness solar energy could be at the heart of new European efforts to engage with southern neighbors, according to the first set of concrete proposals published Tuesday.

Less than two months before the debut of a new Union for the Mediterranean, pioneered by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the European Commission sought to put its stamp on the plan with a series of recommendations.

While its call for big spending projects in the region will be welcomed in Paris, the document issued Tuesday also proposes a further dilution of Sarkozy's original aim of giving the European Union's southern states a bigger role in the venture than northern EU counterparts. ...

What is not disputed is the thinking behind the plan: that previous initiatives have largely failed. Since 1995 the EU has engaged with southern neighbors through the so-called Barcelona Process but with few tangible results.

The new document concedes that the Barcelona Process suffered from "weak visibility and the perception by citizens that little is done to tackle their daily problems and real needs." European diplomats hope the new organization, known officially as the "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean," will give southern Mediterranean countries a greater stake because they will be on a level of parity with the EU.

Critics point out that a central problem will remain: the diverse southern Mediterranean membership, which includes Syria and Israel.

The commission said the new union should hold summit meetings every two years, but avoided endorsing any location for its headquarters. Tunis, however, has emerged as a prime candidate. The commission called for two parallel sets of co-presidencies - to be held by France for an initial six months on the EU side. Thereafter this would be held by the new president of the European Council or high representative for foreign affairs - posts established under the new Treaty of Lisbon.

The document released Tuesday called for improved maritime and road infrastructure, including new sea routes and upgraded port facilities, and a new road to link the Arab states of North Africa - Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

The new body should reinvigorate a plan approved in 2006 to clean the Mediterranean Sea of pollution, a 2007 program to develop solar power, and a proposal for a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010, the document said.

IHT

Syria slashes gas oil subsidy, tripling price

The Syrian government more than tripled the price of gas oil on Saturday, kicking off a program to remove big subsidies on the fuel.

Pump owners said a liter of gas oil went up to the equivalent of 54 U.S. cents from 15 cents. The state imports large volumes of the fuel at around $1 liter.

Gas oil is used in Syria on a large scale for industry, transport and heating. The gas oil price increase came as the government announced a 25 percent hike in public sector salaries to help the population absorb rising living costs and the impact of subsidy cuts.

The increase, which will take effect this month, covers 2 million public workers and retirees, the state news agency said. Syria has a population of 18 million.
Reuters

Report: Syria bracing for Israeli attack

VIDEO - Is Syria preparing for war? Qatar's al-Watan newspaper reported Monday that political and media sources in Damascus expressed concerns that war may breakout between Israel and Syria before long.

According to the report, the nationwide emergency drill held by Damascus in response to a similar drill held by Israel last week, is one of the preemptive steps taken by Syria, which is supposedly responding to reports of Israel holding strategy meeting with the US in an attempt to devise an attack on both Syria and Iran.

Israel, claimed the report, is eyeing the period between the end of May to mid June as a possible window of attack; and the proof, as a senior Syrian official told al-Watan, is in the fact that the Israeli drill covering the Golan Heights was closely monitored by a high-ranking American general.

This close cooperation, added the source is evident that the two wish to send a message to the "resistance" in the area, namely Syria, Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas, the US is aware of the fact that any American strike against Iran may entail the latter bombing Israel and launching two new fronts against Syria and Lebanon.

Though titled a readiness drill against natural disasters, the Syria-crossing drill, added the report, has raised public concerns of a Mideast war pending in the summer.

FEMIP finance contracts in Mediterranean Partner Countries

Finance contracts worth 6,957,707,957 euros were signed between FEMIP and Mediterranean Partner Countries in the last five years, according to the latest figures from the European Investment Bank. A country-by-country breakdown, updated today, is available on the Bank’s website.

Algeria 255,498,958
Egypt 2,067,312,240
Palestine 55,000,000
Israel 395,000,000
Jordan 215,896,759
Lebanon 575,000,000
Morocco 1,221,000,000
Syria 715,000,000
Tunisia 1,379,950,000

Regional - North Africa 10,000,000

Mediterranean Countries 68,050,000

Annapolis peace conference

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice organized and hosted the conference. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and U.S. President George W. Bush attended the meeting. A partial list of over 40 invitees was released on 20. November 2007, including China, the Arab League, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations most of whom have accepted the invitation. Syria, Saud Arabia and Egypt participated on ministerial level.

The goal of the conference was to produce a substantive document on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the lines of President George W. Bush's Roadmap For Peace, with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.

The conference on November 27, 2007, took place approximately 30 years after Anwar El Sadat, president of Egypt, visited Israel on November 19, 1977 to sign a peace agreement and appoximately 60 years after the newly-created United Nations approved the UN Partition Plan (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, dividing the country into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city – a corpus separatum – administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status. The Jewish community accepted the plan, but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.

Abbas stated that a clear agenda was necessary for the conference, and affirmed in early October that only a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their entirety would be acceptable, with any permanent Israeli control of land beyond its 1967 borders subject to discussion on a one-to-one basis. He further demanded that all six central issues be debated at the conference: Jerusalem, refugees and right of return, borders, settlements, water and security.

In October 2007, Prime Minister Olmert indicated that he would be willing to give parts of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a broader peace settlement at Annapolis, drawing considerable criticism from right-wing Israeli and foreign Jewish organizations and Christian Zionists. Knesset members from within Olmert's own ruling coalition have also been trying to stop such plans.

Prior to the conference, President Bush met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the White House. After meeting with Olmert and Abbas, President Bush read from a joint statement, signed by both parties, "We agreed to immediately launch good faith, bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including core issues, without exception," and that, "The final peace settlement will establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people."

Wikipedia

N Korean ship 'linked to Israel's strike on Syria'

A suspicious North Korean freighter that re-flagged itself as South Korean before off-loading an unknown cargo at the Syrian port of Tartous is at the centre of efforts today to investigate Israel's recent airstrike on Syria.

An Israeli on-line data analyst, Ronen Solomon, found an internet trace for the 1,700-tonne cargo ship, Al Hamed, which showed the vessel started to off-load what Syrian officials categorised as "cement" on Sept 3. This was three days before Israeli jets attacked a site in the north eastern desert of Syria, not far from its border with Iraq.

Since leaving Tartous, one of Syria's main ports on the Mediterranean, the ship's trace has disappeared and it is not known whether western intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel. "I became suspicious after the first reports from Syria about the attack so I traced all traffic into Syrian ports in the days prior to the incident," Mr Solomon said.

"There were five ships but the interesting one was the one with a connection to North Korea - the Al Hamed." He said he cross-referred to other maritime databases to establish the ship was not a regular visitor to the Mediterranean but had come through the Suez Canal in late June. It had registered itself for the Suez transit as a South Korean vessel but Mr Solomon said this was standard procedure for North Korean ships seeking to avoid international constraints on North Korea.

Records showed the vessel docked at Tartous on July 28 before going back to sea and then returning to the port on Sept 3. "Since then there is no trace so I have no idea if she has gone up into the Black Sea or is still in the Mediterranean or whatever," Mr Solomon said.

Last week, US officials suggested that North Korea had sought to export some of its nuclear technology and equipment to Syria but the Israelis had been tipped off, so they arranged a pre-emptive strike on a sensitive shipment.

Mr Solomon said the Al Hamed was owned by a North Korean business until a few months ago when ownership changed hands to an as yet unidentified new owner.

MEDSTAT II meeting

General Directors of the Mediterranean Partner Countries' National Statistics Institutes were in Brussels on September 6-7, 2007 at the invitation of EuropeAid and Eurostat for the first Partnership Group Meeting organised within the framework of the MEDSTAT II regional programme.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together all those involved in the project for a frank discussion about the results achieved so far and future challenges, as well as to start a dialogue on future statistical cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation began in 1996 through the regional programme MEDSTAT. Ten years later (January 2006), MEDSTAT II, a three-year, €30 million programme, was launched with ten partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). It deals with statistics in nine thematic sectors (Trade, National Accounts, Social Statistics, Energy, Agriculture, Environment, Tourism, transport and Migration) and three horizontal sectors (Training, Information System and Dissemination). The programme’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the partner countries’ National Statistics Institutes and each country’s own National Statistical System.

MEPs pledge to raise awareness of Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria

The recent influx of 1.5 million Iraqi refugees places a huge strain on Syria, a problem not sufficiently realised by the international community, said the European Parliament delegation - in Syria for its 9th interparliamentary meeting - for relations with the countries of the Mashreq on Wednesday.

Representatives of the Syrian government, parliamentarians and business leaders underlined the urgency of facing up to the economic and social consequences of the massive influx of refugees from Iraq. These refugees have increased Syria's population by 7%, putting ever-increasing stress on the country's health services and educational facilities.

Finally, the delegation stressed the fact that Syria is an indispensable partner for any peaceful resolution of the many tensions in the Middle East. In the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, violence in Iraq and high political tension in Lebanon, the Syrian government was urged to contribute positively to efforts to stabilise this volatile region.

CNN: Israeli gov't 'very happy with success' of IAF strike on Syria

The CNN television network reported Tuesday that Israel is happy with the results of an alleged Israel Air Force strike last week in Syrian territory. Quoting sources in the United States and the region, CNN said, "The Israeli government is very happy with the success of the operation."

European diplomats quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem as saying Monday that the IAF warplanes that violated Syria's airspace fired missiles at targets on the ground, but did not cause any damage.

According to the CNN report, the sources said the IAF indeed carried out a strike on a target in Syria, adding that the operation "may have also involved Israeli ground forces who directed the air strike."

CNN quoted the sources as saying the strike, which possibly targeted an arms transfer from Iran to Hezbollah through Syria, "left a big hole in the desert." The CNN report said U.S. government and military sources have confirmed the airstrike, and said that "they are happy to have Israel carry the message to both Syria and Iran that they can get in and out and strike when necessary."

Also Tuesday, Syria lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations about an "aggression and violation of sovereignty" over the incident, the country's ambassador to the UN said Tuesday.