Averted attack linked to Syria

JERUSALEM – Syria used a cell of Palestinian terrorists directed by Hezbollah, responsible for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, to attempt further attacks against Israel today, security sources told WorldNetDaily.

Two Israelis were wounded in a shooting by terrorists tonight near a West Bank Jewish settlement. A more lethal attack was averted when Israeli troops seized a car bomb rigged with hundreds of kilograms of explosives. According to an IDF spokesperson, the car, in the final stages of preparation for an attack, was discovered with a long cable attached to a battery and a video camera, intended for the documentation of the terrorist attack. The bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion.

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Israeli security sources told WorldNetDaily the terrorist cell behind Friday's Tel Aviv attack had prepared tonight's car bomb for another attack. They say gunmen financed by Hezbollah were responsible for the West Bank shooting.

The bombing Friday, outside a popular nightclub, killed four Israelis and wounded over 50. Sources say the attack was funded and directed by Hezbollah forces, which at the direction of Syria has created a terror apparatus of Palestinian militants in the West Bank receiving full-time salaries from the Lebanese group.

Palestinian security the past few weeks has intercepted a series of communications, including phone calls and e-mails, between Hezbollah and West Bank terrorists indicating Hezbollah had been trying to recruit suicide bombers to carry out attacks that would sabotage a truce reached by Israel and the Palestinian Authority earlier this month, sources say.

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One official said intercepted bank transactions suggested Hezbollah had raised its cash offers to Palestinian terrorists and is now willing to pay $100,000 for a suicide bombing operation. In the past, information indicated Hezbollah would pay $20,000 for such attacks.

Sources say Hezbollah maintains hundreds of West Bank gunmen on its payroll. One militant who said he was retired recently claimed to reporters a Hezbollah recruiter had called him several weeks ago and offered a generous payment for returning to violence. He said a squad of five or six men from Palestinian terror groups typically receives $5,000 to $8,000 a month for expenses, including bullets, weapons, cell-phone calling cards and spending money.

Hezbollah is primarily backed by Syria and Iran.

Dr. Walid Phares, professor of Middle East Studies at Florida Atlantic University, told WND: "Damascus today has an interest in dragging Israel into a military confrontation. The Baathist regime needs a heating up of the conflict with Israel so that the nature of the confrontation in Lebanon would change."

In a major blow to Syria, Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced earlier this evening the resignation of his government during a parliamentary debate. The resignation follows two weeks of mass protests and political maneuvers in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Many analysts agree Syrian President Bashar Assad considers his influence in Lebanon a key factor to his position in the Middle East, and that a successful campaign to drive Syrian troops from Lebanon would devastate the Syrian government.

Assad largely depends on Lebanese trade to fuel the Syrian economy and has used Hezbollah militants, who maintain over 3,000 missiles on the Lebanese-Israeli border, to threaten the Jewish state and solidify Syrian regional power.

In response to Syria's backing of last week's bombing, Israel today launched a major diplomatic offensive lobbying for increased international isolation of Damascus. Military intelligence chiefs in Jerusalem met several foreign ambassadors, mostly from European countries, to present information linking Syria to the Tel Aviv bombing. Presentations are also scheduled for Washington, London and Paris.

"We have had clear evidence to this effect and we don't think that Damascus today is clear or clean of terroristic headquarters," Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, during a visit by Belgian counterpart Karel De Gucht, urged the EU to pressure "the Syrians and the Iranians to end their support for terror."

"What we are doing is trying in every capital of the world ... to show them the direct links from Syria to Islamic Jihad, which has a direct connection to what we saw on Friday evening in Tel Aviv," said Ron Prosor, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.

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