Syrian troop reinforcements have been moved up to the Israel border area in anticipation of a possible Israeli reprisal raid for the Saturday night ambush which killed four Israeli border patrol policemen, the Daily Telegraph reported today from Beirut. The dispatch said also that the Government-operated Lamascus radio was praising recent El Fatah attacks against Israel from Syrian staging areas.
The Telegraph reported that the shaky position of the present leftist regime in Syria, together with the growing interest of the Soviet Union and Communist China in the area, were adding to the tense atmosphere in the Middle East. The newspaper said that the Soviet Union was providing a new build-up of weapons for the Syrian armed forces, with an increasing number of military technicians. Western sources in Damascus were reported as having seen a large group of Soviet military advisers near the Syrian-Israel border.
Syrian Premier Yussef Zayyan announced today that in case “of any Israeli aggression (reprisals) against Syria, we shall set the area on fire and turn it into a cemetery for Israel, imperialism, and imperialistic agents,” according to dispatches from Damascus. He made the statement in response to one by Premier Eshkol that Israel would act to cope with further border incidents.
Jordan was reported to be very concerned that Syria’s leaders might irresponsibly provoke a situation which could touch off a major Arab-Israel military clash, according to the Telegraph. The dispatch noted that the Syrian Government was now openly supporting the activities of the El Fatah, and that Arab commandoes had received guerrilla training in Communist China.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
