Posted 10/07/2003 11:29:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Catching up on Middle East News

I've been curious about the lack of real Arab outrage over the Israeli raid into Syria.

Awad said: “I couldn't believe my ears when I heard. I wish I was there with a shotgun in my hand.”

A university student, Jamal, said he hoped the government would send its own air force “to show them what Syrians can do”.

Admittedly I haven't seen a whole lot of news about it, but what I have seen has been remarkable in it's lack of reporting of hundreds of civilian casualties, as we've come to expect from the Arab propogandists. Is it that the terrorist apologists at Reuters and Al Jezeera and other agencies were caught off guard, or was the raid a successfully delivered message?

A target like Ein Saheb can be accurately hit by missiles fired at a great distance. The Syrians announced that one person had been injured in the attack, but sources say there has been loss of life as well. A number of hours passed between the attack and Syria's announcement, an indication of its surprise and confusion over the strike

I did get to see Ambassador Dan Gillerman's statement to the Security Council on Sunday as well as the Syrian Ambassador's statement. The Syrian statement was soo over the top it was satire like, but Ambassador Gillerman's was brilliant. (Anyone know where the complete text of the statment is available?)

Briefly detailing the extent of support that Syria, as well as Iran, afforded terrorist organizations, such as Islamic Jihad, he highlighted the safe harbour and training facilities provided throughout Syria, such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah, both in separate facilities and in Syrian army bases. Syria itself had directed acts of terrorism, with coordination and briefings by phone and Internet, and by summoning activists to Damascus for briefings. Iran, through the use of Syrian and Palestinian banking systems, sustained a systematic money-transfer system, and large sums of money had been transferred to Islamic Jihad, as well as to other terrorist organizations, through Damascus for the planning and perpetration of attacks.

Continuing, he said that Syria used its State-run media and official institutions to glorify and encourage suicide bombings against civilians in restaurants, schools, commuter buses and shopping malls. Syria had also facilitated the transfer of arms to Palestinian terrorist organizations by allowing the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Iran to Hezbollah through Syrian territory. Hezbollah, itself a vicious terrorist organization, had then sought to smuggle those arms to Palestinian terrorist groups. The Syrian delegate speaks a great deal about resistance. Perhaps he could explain precisely how the murder of children in a restaurant was an act of resistance.

Update: Thanks to Charles and his readers for the text of Ambasador Gillerman's statement to the Security Council on Sunday October 5, 2003.