EGYPT on Sunday condemned an Israeli air raid which took out a Syrian radar base in Lebanon, branding it an “unjustified provocation” and a badly-timed escalation of the regional situation. “It’s an unjustifiable Israeli escalation that comes at a moment when contacts are underway to calm the situation in the Middle East region” and resume peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. An official for the Egyptian president’s office described the act as “an aggression which represents an unjustified provocation,” Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency reported, without identifying the official. Two Israeli warplanes on Sunday destroyed a Syrian radar station in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, wounding two Syrian soldiers and a Lebanese soldier, Syria’s official news agency SANA said, following a Hezbollah attack on Friday which wounded an Israeli soldier. The Syrian- and Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group bombarded Israeli forces in the disputed Shebaa Farms territory in response to the raids. – AFP
Israel raid on Syrian army risks wider war. The Guardian, July 2, 2001
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