‘Camp guards’ wounded in Israeli raid
Two guards were wounded in the raid by Israeli warplanes on a “facility” of a Palestinian group near the Syrian capital, a Palestinian official has said.
He said it belonged to a wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). An assistant of the official contacted by Reuters said it was used by a wing of the PLFP known as PFLP-General Command.
The official described the camp as a facility, adding “there are no training activities there”. He did not say what it was used for.
Israel said the base was used by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which had claimed responsibility for a bombing in which 19 people died in the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Saturday.
But Islamic Jihad has denied having any training camps in Syria.
“Two men were slightly wounded. They are camp guards,” said the Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, in Beirut.
Syria pressed
The United States has pressed Syria to meet a long standing demand by Israel, its key regional ally, to close offices of Palestinian resistance groups.
Damascus says offices belonging to groups that include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP are limited to media activity.
Israeli commentators said the attack on the camp in Ain Sahib, about 20 km north-west of Damascus, was the deepest Israeli air raid into Syria since the 1973 Middle East war.
“The raid seems to be a political message but it is at the same time a dangerous development that should be and will be addressed,” another Palestinian source said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week Damascus was taking precautions “against every negative matter that Israel could think of” following media reports that Israel might bomb leaders of Palestinian groups in Syria and Lebanon.