Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10TELAVIV264
2010-02-04 12:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
how-toVZCZCXRO6007 OO RUEHROV DE RUEHTV #0264 0351251 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 041251Z FEB 10 FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5322 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 000264
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS SY LE IS
SUBJECT: WAR OF WORDS WITH SYRIA
Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno, Reason 1.4 (b) (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 000264
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS SY LE IS
SUBJECT: WAR OF WORDS WITH SYRIA
Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno, Reason 1.4 (b) (d)
1. (C) Summary. Tensions are higher than usual between
Israel and Syria this week following an exchange of comments
on the possible outbreak of war. A February 1 comment by
Defense Minister Barak to the effect that the alternative to
opening negotiations with Syria could be the outbreak of war
was intended to signal to an Israeli audience Barak's sense
of urgency over resuming negotiations, but it appears to have
come across to the Syrian leadership as a threat. The
Syrians responded, with President Asad saying that Israel is
seeking war, not peace, while Foreign Minister Muallem
commented publically that a war would include attacks on
Israeli cities. Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman raised
the ante February 4, saying that a Syrian attack on Israel
would lead to the destruction of the Syrian regime, leading
opposition MK Mofaz to call for Israeli leaders to avoid
inflammatory rhetoric. DAO reports no sign of unusual IDF
military activity in the north. End Summary.
2. (SBU) Tensions with Syria burst into a war of words
February 3-4. After weeks of top-level Israeli complaints
behind closed doors that Syria is expanding its military
cooperation with Hizballah, Defense Minister Barak was widely
quoted February 1 as having told a group of senior IDF
officers that "in the absence of an arrangement with Syria,
we are liable to enter a belligerent clash with it that could
reach the point of an all-out regional war." Barak went on
to say that after such a war, Israel would sit down with
Syria and be faced with negotiating the same issues that have
been on the agenda for the past 15 years.
3. (SBU) While to an Israeli audience, Barak's comments were
clearly meant to underscore the importance he attaches to
engaging Syria diplomatically rather than risk a slide toward
war, the Syrian leadership appears to have interpreted
Barak's remarks as a threat. During a February 3 visit to
Damascus by Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos, President
Asad was quoted in the Israeli press as saying, "Israel is
not serious about achieving peace, since all the facts show
that she is pushing the region toward war, not peace."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem took the point further,
and was quoted in the Israeli press as saying that Israel was
planting the seeds of war by threatening attacks on Iran,
Lebanon and Gaza. Ha'aretz quoted Muallem as saying, "I tell
them (the Israelis) to stop acting like thugs. Do not test
the resolve of Syria. You Israelis, you know that war at
this time will reach your cities. If such a war breaks
out...it will indeed be total war, whether it begins in South
Lebanon or Syria." (Note: The latest furor follows a
January 23 intervention by Netanyahu to assure Lebanon that
Israel has no intention of attacking it following an earlier
statement by Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled said
publically that war with Lebanon was inevitable due to
Hizballah's build-up of rockets with Syrian support.)
4. (SBU) On February 4, Foreign Minister Lieberman responded
by threatening the survival of the Asad regime. Speaking at
a conference at Bar Ilan University, Lieberman was reported
to have said, "Asad should know that if he attacks, he will
not only lose the war, neither he nor his family will remain
in power." Lieberman went on to say, "Our message should be
that if Asad's father lost a war but remained in power, the
son should know that an attack would cost him his regime."
The Prime Minister's office has not yet commented on
Lieberman's remarks, but the opposition Kadima party's number
two member, Shaul Mofaz, complained to Israel Radio that
Israeli leaders must not play into Iran's hands by making
"inflammatory" statements. Mofaz added that Israel's
leadership "must be very responsible, very restrained, and
level headed about what it says."
5. (C) Comment: We are convinced that Barak's remarks were
in fact meant to convey his sense of urgency about resuming
negotiations with Syria, but the Syrian response and now
Lieberman's characteristically bombastic threat against the
Asad family have genuinely raised tensions. According to
DAO, quiet prevails in the north and there are no indciations
of unusual Israeli military preparations, but the situation
is tense.
Cunningham
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS SY LE IS
SUBJECT: WAR OF WORDS WITH SYRIA
Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno, Reason 1.4 (b) (d)
1. (C) Summary. Tensions are higher than usual between
Israel and Syria this week following an exchange of comments
on the possible outbreak of war. A February 1 comment by
Defense Minister Barak to the effect that the alternative to
opening negotiations with Syria could be the outbreak of war
was intended to signal to an Israeli audience Barak's sense
of urgency over resuming negotiations, but it appears to have
come across to the Syrian leadership as a threat. The
Syrians responded, with President Asad saying that Israel is
seeking war, not peace, while Foreign Minister Muallem
commented publically that a war would include attacks on
Israeli cities. Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman raised
the ante February 4, saying that a Syrian attack on Israel
would lead to the destruction of the Syrian regime, leading
opposition MK Mofaz to call for Israeli leaders to avoid
inflammatory rhetoric. DAO reports no sign of unusual IDF
military activity in the north. End Summary.
2. (SBU) Tensions with Syria burst into a war of words
February 3-4. After weeks of top-level Israeli complaints
behind closed doors that Syria is expanding its military
cooperation with Hizballah, Defense Minister Barak was widely
quoted February 1 as having told a group of senior IDF
officers that "in the absence of an arrangement with Syria,
we are liable to enter a belligerent clash with it that could
reach the point of an all-out regional war." Barak went on
to say that after such a war, Israel would sit down with
Syria and be faced with negotiating the same issues that have
been on the agenda for the past 15 years.
3. (SBU) While to an Israeli audience, Barak's comments were
clearly meant to underscore the importance he attaches to
engaging Syria diplomatically rather than risk a slide toward
war, the Syrian leadership appears to have interpreted
Barak's remarks as a threat. During a February 3 visit to
Damascus by Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos, President
Asad was quoted in the Israeli press as saying, "Israel is
not serious about achieving peace, since all the facts show
that she is pushing the region toward war, not peace."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem took the point further,
and was quoted in the Israeli press as saying that Israel was
planting the seeds of war by threatening attacks on Iran,
Lebanon and Gaza. Ha'aretz quoted Muallem as saying, "I tell
them (the Israelis) to stop acting like thugs. Do not test
the resolve of Syria. You Israelis, you know that war at
this time will reach your cities. If such a war breaks
out...it will indeed be total war, whether it begins in South
Lebanon or Syria." (Note: The latest furor follows a
January 23 intervention by Netanyahu to assure Lebanon that
Israel has no intention of attacking it following an earlier
statement by Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled said
publically that war with Lebanon was inevitable due to
Hizballah's build-up of rockets with Syrian support.)
4. (SBU) On February 4, Foreign Minister Lieberman responded
by threatening the survival of the Asad regime. Speaking at
a conference at Bar Ilan University, Lieberman was reported
to have said, "Asad should know that if he attacks, he will
not only lose the war, neither he nor his family will remain
in power." Lieberman went on to say, "Our message should be
that if Asad's father lost a war but remained in power, the
son should know that an attack would cost him his regime."
The Prime Minister's office has not yet commented on
Lieberman's remarks, but the opposition Kadima party's number
two member, Shaul Mofaz, complained to Israel Radio that
Israeli leaders must not play into Iran's hands by making
"inflammatory" statements. Mofaz added that Israel's
leadership "must be very responsible, very restrained, and
level headed about what it says."
5. (C) Comment: We are convinced that Barak's remarks were
in fact meant to convey his sense of urgency about resuming
negotiations with Syria, but the Syrian response and now
Lieberman's characteristically bombastic threat against the
Asad family have genuinely raised tensions. According to
DAO, quiet prevails in the north and there are no indciations
of unusual Israeli military preparations, but the situation
is tense.
Cunningham