Syria on Wednesday denied a report according to which its army has heightened its alert over fears for an Israeli strike. "The report, which was published in Al-Quds Al-Arabi is totally false," Col. Ahmad Munir Muhammad, a member of the Syrian parliament's National Security Committee, told The Media Line on Wednesday. Muhammad said that "President [Bashar Al-Assad's] message is clear: we are for a just and comprehensive peace and for the implementation of the United Nations' resolutions."
Earlier, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily, cited sources in the Syrian capital as saying the army has taken steps in preparation for a large-scale Israeli attack on Syria and Hizbullah. According to the newspaper, the Syrian army has been staging military maneuvers and drafting some of its reserve forces in preparation for countering such a plot. "Syria is not massing forces and is not summoning its reserves", although "there are indications that Israel is preparing a military assault against Syria with the US backing".
"The national Lebanese resistance movement has proven that it can thwart an Israeli attack on its own," he added. The purpose behind such an Israeli invasion, said Muhammad, would be to divert the pressure of public opinion from the "American crisis in Iraq and the crises within Israel."
The report in the London-based newspaper comes as it was announced that Israeli citizens will be given new gas-masks. The Israel Security Cabinet authorized Wednesday a plan to issue the population upgraded gasmasks as part of preparations for a possible future, non-conventional war.
