Israel Matzav

Syria involved in UNIFIL bombing?

Earlier, I reported on a roadside bomb that wounded six Italian UNIFIL troops in Lebanon. Now it turns out that Syria may have been involved in that bombing.

Diplomatic sources on Saturday suggested Syria was involved in the roadside bomb Friday that blew up a UN vehicle on a highway leading to the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, Lebanese daily An Nahar reported.

The sources told An Nahar and other Lebanese media that the the blast came after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem threatened the European Union that it would regret sanctions imposed on President Bashar Assad and other top Syrian officials.

"I say this measure, just as it will harm Syria's interests, it will harm Europe's interest. And Syria won't remain silent about this measure," Muallem declared last week.

The diplomats hinted that messages communicated to Europe through Muallem's comments and the attack on the UN peacekeepers would only increase.

According to An Nahar, they did not exclude attempts by the Syrian government to create "distractions elsewhere" if it feels threatened.

But why would Assad do that? After all, he's a reformer!

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, European Union, Syrian sanctions, UNIFIL

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:54 AM