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Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP)
Last update - 12:02 17/04/2008
Report: Assad says Syria preparing for possible war with Israel
By Haaretz Service
Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar reported on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar
Assad has said that Syria is preparing for war with Israel as a real
possibility.
Assad noted, speaking at a conference in Damascus, however, that he
did not expect a conflict between the two states to break out under the
current circumstances.
The Syria president also denounced Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's speech in Qatar on Monday, where she stated that a struggle is being fought between
moderates and extremists, with the latter attempting to prevent an
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal from being reached.
According to Assad, the United States and Israel wish to turn Iran into the enemy of the Arab states. He emphasized that while mistakes
may have been made over the supervision of Iranian policies and
interests, this cannot be interpreted as meaning Iran is an enemy of
the Arab world.
Assad's comments came after recent heightened tensions with Syria, sparked by media reports of Syria having mobilized its reserve forces.
Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence officials subsequently
rejected the reports, but did state that there were signs of
"nervousness" and alertness on the Syrian Golan Heights - signs that
also appeared last spring and continued into the summer.
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