Syria out of peace talks after Israeli attack

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty

Israel and Syria are now confirming what has been the biggest open secret in international affairs—that Israel attacked a target within Syrian borders earlier this month. Israeli Army Radio today reported a military target "deep inside Syria" had been attacked on September 6. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the BBC in an interview published yesterday that a strike on an unused military site did occur. 

Whether the site is unused is not clear. Anonymous U.S. officials continue to insist the attack was on a nuclear facility of some kind, claiming North Korea was helping Syria establish a nuclear program. Other reports indicate the Israelis might have been targeting a weapons shipment from Iran to Hezbollah, or North Korean missiles.

What is clear is that the attack did little to advance peace. A few weeks back, Passport speculated that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's unconditional offer to hold peace talks stemmed from renewed confidence in Israel's military superiority. The Syrians, recognizing themselves to be in a weaker position, would limp to the negotiating table. 

If this was Olmert's intention, it's backfired. Assad said Syria would not attend a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in November unless the Golan Heights and the attack are discussed. The conference is supposed to focus on Israeli-Palestinian issues. He then made this cryptic threat to retaliate:

Retaliate doesn't mean missile for missile and bomb for bomb. We have our means to retaliate, maybe politically, maybe in other ways. But we have the right to retaliate.

In this case, retaliation could be blocking any hope of a more peaceful Middle East.