Israel again warns Syria about weapons

JERUSALEM - Fears of an escalation of violence between Israel and Syria grew Sunday with renewed Israeli threats to destroy Syrian weapons caches and Syria's warnings of retaliation.

After decades of relative calm, some Israeli officials say, tensions with Syria are among the highest since the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

During a Cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to act to prevent Syria's advanced weapons from falling into the hands of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah or other organizations deemed to be terrorists.

"The Middle East is in one of its most sensitive periods in decades with the escalating upheaval in Syria," Netanyahu said. "We are monitoring the changes there closely and are prepared for any scenario."

Israel has been accused of launching three airstrikes this year against Syrian weapons stockpiles and convoys, though officially, the Israeli government has not acknowledged its responsibility.

But Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they would not hesitate to attack if they feared that weapons, including chemical stockpiles, would fall into the wrong hands.

In response, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime did not retaliate for the previous three attacks, has signaled that he would not tolerate a fourth.

His government has reportedly trained advanced surface-to-surface missiles on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, with instructions to fire in the event of another Israeli attack, according to information from reconnaissance satellite imagery reported Sunday by the Times of London.

Israeli military officials have insisted they did not wish to interfere in the Syrian civil war or topple Assad's regime and would limit military actions toward halting the arms pipeline from Iran to Hezbollah.

At the same time, Israelis have warned Assad that if he were to strike, he risked losing control of Syria, because Israel would respond with less restraint.

Over the weekend, Assad accused Israel of helping the rebels.