Syria Tells Troops To Be Ready For Battle
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has placed his military on full alert, citing "regional challenges", and vowed to continue supporting the "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance more than ever".

In a speech to mark the Syrian Army national day, Mr Assad said the volatile situation across the Middle East required "vigilance, preparation and readiness" and ordered all units of the armed forces to be on alert.

The comments were interpreted by Israel as a morale booster to the Syrian armed forces and not a call to battle. Israeli intelligence chiefs have assessed that Syria is not in the mood for an open war and is instead content to resupply Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

Israel has said it does not intend to attack Syria and has accused Hezbollah of trying to inflame a conflict by firing rockets from southern Lebanon towards and beyond the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syrian forces in 1967 - the last time the two countries fought.

Israeli warplanes have repeatedly bombed roads on the Lebanese side of the Syrian border and on Sunday attacked the neutral zone between both sides, making the crossing unusable.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also accused Mr Assad of financing and backing Hezbollah and sending weapons across the border in Syrian-marked trucks.

Mr Assad said the 21-day war had led Syria to boost its support for resistance operations in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "We must be aware that every effort and every drop of sweat exerted in training now will spare a drop of blood when the time comes," he said.

The Damascus-based exiled leadership of key Palestinian militant group Hamas has denied it is backing an insurgency in Lebanon, claiming it confines its interest to the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. In an interview with The Australian, Musa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of Hamas's politburo, accused Israel of sparking the escalating conflict by boycotting the elected Hamas Government in the territories in January.

"We have had dozens of politicians coming from Europe and other places who say to us they are surprised about how Israel can make these crazy policies," Mr Marzook said.

"The Israelis think with their muscles and not their minds. After Hamas was elected, they had a good chance to make calm because Hamas was interested in an agreement.

"When the Palestinians elected us we had no choice but to govern. We did not expect it. The Palestinian people want us to reject the occupation and that is what we must do, but we did not spark this deterioration. It was not in our interests to do so.

"But still, we do not blame the Israelis totally for this. We know them, they are our enemy and we know historically how they behave. For what is going on at the moment, we blame the Bush administration who continue to charge along without any open minds to the other side."

Mr Marzook said the two Syrian-based Palestinians killed fighting in Lebanon a week ago had not been sent by Hamas, but said he could not discourage Palestinians who wanted to make the journey without the backing of militant groups.

Syria's key ally in the region, Iran, yesterday dispatched its Foreign Minister to Lebanon for talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and visiting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. Manouchehr Mottaki was expected to meet Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has been in hiding since the Israeli air assault of Beirut began.

Egypt has been attempting to broker a deal with Syria to walk away from its relationship with Iran and Hezbollah in return for renewed international legitimacy and talks with the US, which has placed Mr Assad under boycott since accusing Syrian regime elements of assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri 18 months ago.