Syria, Hezbollah 'looking to attack Israel'

JERUSALEM – Jordan's king warned American Jewish officials yesterday Syria and Hezbollah are planning terrorist attacks in Israel to distract international attention from the growing crisis in Lebanon, WorldNetDaily has learned.

King Abdullah II met with top American Jewish officials in Washington at honorary event thanking Abdullah for his support of recent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The King told Jewish leaders he passed a message to prime minister Ariel Sharon that Syria and Hezbollah are seeking to step up attacks against Israel to deflect international opposition surrounding Damascus' occupation of Lebanon and opposition calls for an investigation into the assassination of former Prime Ministet Rafiq Hariri, for which Syria has been largely blamed.

Abdullah said Israel should refrain from any immediate retaliation against Palestinian groups if there is indeed a terrorist attack since the likely source would be Syria and Hezbollah.

''King Abdullah warned the meeting about the dangers posed to stability in the region, and Syria and Hezbollah's plans to upset international efforts to have Syria remove its troops [from Lebanon],'' Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which sent a representative to the meeting, told WND.

Security sources told WND recent attempted terror attacks and last month's suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco that killed five Israelis were 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 last month 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.

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.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Michel Aoun, who is returning to Beirut to run in a May election, told WND Friday Hezbollah's military wing should be disbanded. ''Hezbollah is an issue. After Syria gets out, we don't need anymore resistance. It won't be necessary. Syria will withdraw. Israel is not in Lebanon anymore.''

Last week opposition leaders led an estimated 800,000 people in central Beirut rally, the largest anti-Syrian protest in Lebanon since the opposition called for a ''general uprising'' 32 days ago, and one of the largest protests in recent Middle East history. Some put the numbers as high as 1.3 million.

Crowds from across Lebanon gathered in Martyrs' Square in central Beirut to demand the immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops, the firing of Syrian-backed intelligence forces, and an international inquiry into Hariri's killing.

Mocking a Hezbollah mass rally that many say consisted of foreign elements, protesters held signs that read ''This Crowd is 100% Lebanese'' and ''No Syrians Here.''

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who met with Assad yesterday, said Syria will comply with a U.N. resolution calling for a complete withdrawal of its nearly 20,000 troops from Lebanon.

''The withdrawal has begun and it continues. [Assad is] working out a timetable in consultation with the Lebanese authorities and will withdraw his troops completely into Syrian territory. Not just the troops but also the security service, as well as all the logistical and material equipment to Syria,'' Annan told reporters.

Syria has moves about 8,000 troops and intelligence agents into eastern Lebanon toward the border and has been promising a complete withdrawal coordinated with the pro-Syrian government in Beirut, but Assad has not given a timetable despite mounting international pressure for him to comply before May elections.

''We don't believe Syrian declarations,'' said Aoun. ''How many times have we heard before that Syria will withdraw? The international community needs to keep the pressure and make sure it happens.''