Syria calls for UN condemnation of Israeli air strike

Syria demanded that the United Nations Security Council condemn Israel's air strike against an alleged terrorist training camp near Damascus, but the United States said it would not support any resolution that does not also criticise attacks against Israel.

At an emergency meeting in New York last night, called at Syria's request, all the council diplomats except US Ambassador John Negroponte spoke out against the air strike, while most also condemned the deadly suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Haifa that prompted Israel's retaliation.

Mr Negroponte instead only condemned the Haifa attack, while blaming Syria for harbouring terrorists. He called on "all sides to avoid heightening tensions and to think carefully about the consequences of their actions."

"The United States believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism," he told the council. "We believe it is in Syria's interest, and in the broader interest of Middle East peace, for Syria to stop harboring and supporting the groups that perpetrate acts such as the one that occurred yesterday."

He indicated that the United States broadly opposed the text of a draft resolution tabled by Syria and questioned why it made no mention of the Haifa attack.

"It's just incredible to me that in the wake of an event like that, that a draft resolution coming from a delegation of the council would have no reference whatsoever to this dastardly act," he told reporters after the session. "Another resolution on the Middle East is not what is needed."

Mr Negroponte, the 15-member council's president this month, has not scheduled another meeting to discuss the Syrian document, saying diplomats needed time to consult with their governments.

America has regularly used its veto to block resolutions condemning Israel. The US position is that resolutions must roundly condemn all forms of terrorism.

Mr Negroponte did not say whether the United States would exercise its veto as one of five permanent council members. Another diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said discussions were continuing and no one had threatened a veto.

The Israeli raid — on what it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base — came in retaliation for a suicide bombing carried out by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Saturday. The bombing, at a restaurant in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa, killed 19 people and the bomber.

Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad of Syria, the council's only Arab member, urged his colleagues to adopt the resolution condemning the "military aggression carried (out) by Israel against the sovereignty and territory" of Syria. The document also demands that Israel stop acts "which might lead to a dangerous deterioration that threatens regional and international peace and security."

Israel continues "to flout the Charter of the United Nations to the point that Arabs and many people across the globe feel that Israel is above the law," Mr Mekdad said.

Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman, however, defended the strike as "an act of self-defense" within the law.

"Syrian complicity and responsibility for suicide bombings is as blatant as it is repugnant. For Syria to ask a debate in this council is comparable only to the Taliban calling for such a debate after 9/11," he said.

Mr Gillerman also expressed anger that the meeting was called just before the holiest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, and left the council after his speech to observe the holiday. Israel is not a Security Council member.

Most council diplomats condemned both Israel's air strike in Syria as well as the bombing in Haifa, although they said Israel's retaliation action was not justified.

France's Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere called the airstrike "an unacceptable violation of international law."

Russia's Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said it "might lead to more dramatic and tragic consequences, both for the very tense situation in the region, as well as for the international state of security as a whole."

Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of Britain, while calling the airstrike "unacceptable," also sounded a more sympathetic note.

"We have to recognize that terrorists are continuing to attack Israel and are being permitted to do so," he said, adding:"Israel should not allow its justified anger at continuing terrorism to lead to actions that undermine both the peace process and we believe Israel's own interests."

China's Ambassador Wang Guangya added: "We strongly urge both sides to cease violence and any acts to make the situation deteriorate, and to return to consultations and negotiations as soon as possible."

Pakistan's Ambassador Munir Akram urged the council "to speedily adopt the decision to condemn this military aggression and to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic."

Diplomats also told all sides to return to the negotiations led by the so-called Quartet — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — and stick to the U.S-drafted "road map" peace plan.

"We need to break the vicious cycle of violence and counterviolence," said Germany's Ambassador Gunter Pleuger. "There is no alternative to the road map."

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa had called for the council meeting in a complaint to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the council president.

Mr Annan condemned the air strike and expressed concern that the "escalation of an already tense and difficult situation has the potential to broaden the scope of current conflicts in the Middle East," his office said.