Israel Told Syrian Government Responsible for Activities of Palestinian Terrorists

The Syrian government exerts iron-clad control over the activities of Palestinian terrorists based on Syrian soil and the Israel government therefore holds Damascus fully responsible for the recent increase in terrorist activities along the Israel-Syria demarcation line, authoritative sources here told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today. The terrorists make no move without the personal knowledge and approval of Syria’s strong man, Gen. Hafez Assad or one of his ministers or military commanders, the sources said. Damascus authorities closely supervise all terrorist activities in Syria, including recruitment and fund-raising. Guerrillas are forbidden to carry arms or wear uniforms except by special permission and are strictly forbidden to enter the Israel-occupied territories–notably the Golan Heights–without a written permit from the Minister of Defense and orders personally signed by that Minister. Israeli knowledge of these details were verified by Syrian soldiers captured in an Israeli raid behind their lines last June 26, the sources said.

The close relationship between Damascus authorities and the terrorists antedate the Assad regime. When Assad rose to power last Nov. 13 after ousting the civilian Baathist regime that had botched Syria’s intervention in the Jordanian civil war, reports from Damascus indicated a crack-down on the Syrian-supported Al Saiqa terrorists. But this amounted to nothing more than the ouster of elements loyal to the old regime and their replacement by guerrillas loyal to Assad, the Israeli sources said. Assad, in fact has reaffirmed Syria’s support of the terrorists and their objectives. He has permitted the extremist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, headed by the Marxist Dr. George Habash, to re-establish its bases in Syria. Israeli sources quoted the Beirut newspaper Al Nahar as reporting that the PELP regards the Syrian government’s decision as the beginning of a “new phase in good relations between the two parties.” On Feb. 5, the PFLP announced in Beirut that it had “carried out its first attack from Syrian territory on the Golan Heights from bases placed at its disposal by the Syrian government.”