Monday, 16 April, 2001, 15:00 GMT 16:00 UK
Syria denounces Israeli raid
A Syrian army truck was destroyed in the air strike
Syria has reacted angrily to Israel's overnight air strike on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, describing it as a "dangerous escalation".
A Syrian official quoted by state radio said Damascus "reserves the right to defend itself against all aggression".
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa, in Moscow for talks, referred to a "gross violation of international law".
Lebanese officials say at least two Syrian soldiers were killed and several others wounded when Israeli jets attacked the radar post in the mountainous Dahr el-Baidar area, some 35 km (22 miles) east of the capital, Beirut.
Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud said the air strike could lead to a "general confrontation," and there was a similar warning from the Palestinians.
Retaliation
The unnamed Syrian official said Damascus "regards this blatant attack against our forces... as an expression of the Israeli Government's aggressive course... which constitutes a dangerous escalation that is bound to lead to the destabilisation of security".
The official said Syrian air defences retaliated against the planes, "forcing them to flee".
Israel said its raid was in retaliation for an attack by Hezbollah guerrillas based in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power. An Israeli soldier was killed by the guerrillas on Saturday.
An Israeli Government statement accused Syria of "not lifting a finger" to stop the Islamic movement which dogged Israeli occupying forces for years until their pull-out last June.
Syria under pressure
The BBC's Barbara Plett in the Jordanian capital, Amman, says the most likely military response to the Israeli raid would be another Hezbollah attack in the border area.
Syria, which supports the Islamic guerrillas, has about 35,000 troops in Lebanon and is the main power broker there.
But Syria has to tread carefully - neither it nor Lebanon wants a major confrontation, our correspondent says.
At the same time, Syria has to justify its military presence in Lebanon, as some Lebanese parties have been calling for a Syrian withdrawal.
Russia said it was "extremely concerned" by events and called on all sides to show restraint. The Syrian Foreign Minister, Faruq al-Shara, is in Moscow for talks.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah Khatib, currently visiting Israel, condemned the raid as an "unjustified escalation".
He is promoting a Jordanian-Egyptian plan aimed at defusing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. He met his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres on Monday and is also due to hold talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Arab fears
Mr Peres and the Israeli Transport Minister, Ephraim Sneh, are reported to have objected to the timing of the Israeli raid.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Cairo says the raid is the sort of escalation the Arab world feared when Mr Sharon became Israeli leader recently.
An Israeli spokesman said the attack was a clear signal that the "rules of the game" had changed under Mr Sharon.
The raid - the first Israeli strike against Syrian forces since 1996 - poses a major test for Syria's new leader, President Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli forces on the northern border are on a state of alert, but no instructions have been given to civilians to take to bomb shelters.
Border dispute
The Israeli soldier whose death sparked the air raids was killed when Hezbollah guerrillas hit a tank with a Sagger missile in the Shebaa Farms area, where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.
The farms lie on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
The Lebanese Government and Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, both say Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon will not be complete until the farms are vacated.
But United Nations special envoy Staffan de
Mistura said the Hezbollah attack was a "clear
infringement" of UN Resolution 425, under
which the UN certified Israel's withdrawal from
south Lebanon as complete.
-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001