Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Israeli Airstrike: Syria Calls Attack "Dangerous Escalation"
Aired April 16, 2001 - 10:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To the Mideast now, where Syria is calling a deadly Israeli strike on a radar station in Lebanon a "dangerous escalation."
CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joining us now for the latest. He joins us from Beirut -- Brent?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Daryn.
The ramifications of the overnight airstrike by Israeli war planes are still being felt here. Several hours ago, an Israeli war plane broke the sound barrier over Beirut, causing a sonic boom, and the Syrian army in Lebanon remains on a high state of alert.
The United States ambassador to Lebanon has condemned months of Hezbollah guerrilla attacks against Israeli targets, military targets, in the disputed border zone known as the Shebaa Farms as provocative acts which have led to military escalation.
Both the Lebanese and Syrian army commanders are now assessing the security implications of Israel's military action. The Syrian army suffered casualties, the first inflicted against the army by Israel in almost five years.
Israel's strike represents a significant change in the way the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatens to punish both Hezbollah and, claims Israel, Hezbollah's official supporters in Damascus.
The focus of Israel's military strike was a Syrian radar installation close to the Beirut-Damascus highway in the central mountain area. Four Israeli planes reportedly fired six rockets at the radar site and one at a nearby army position.
Here to discuss further the escalating tension in this region, I'm joined by the United Nations special representative for southern Lebanon, Stephan de Nestura.
How serious do you regard this escalating tension and the cross border strong comments from all governments and what happened with this strike against that Syrian radar post?
STEPHAN DE NESTURA, U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO LEBANON: We consider it very seriously because this is the wrongest moment in the Middle East to have this type of escalation. It's also a very delicate moment for Lebanon. We had an act of violence across the blue line the other day on Saturday. We had a counteract of violence, in fact, on the other side of the blue line inside Lebanese territory.
The spiral of violence will lead nobody to anywhere. We need to look at this in negotiating terms and of course including Syria very much into this.
SADLER: Is there concern now at the international level of some counter response from either the Syrians or Hezbollah?
DE NESTURA: There is obviously a major concern that this spiral does stop here and does not proceed. That's why all appeals by the secretary general and by all other members of the international community for restraint. There was a message, there was a counter message. Let's consider it as such an unfortunate theater for messages and not beyond that.
SADLER: Now, Hezbollah guerrillas have been launching operations over the past months against Israeli targets in an area known as the Shebaa Farms. Why so much fierce conflict over a largely uninhabited area given that the Israelis withdrew their forces from southern Lebanon nearly a year ago?
DE NESTURA: One year ago exactly. The blue line was drawn and the blue line was drawn along the whole border between Lebanon...
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Brent, I'm sorry. We're going to have to go and interrupt that report from Lebanon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
