London: Hezbollah has military facilities in Syria that may come under Israeli attack if another war erupts between Israel and the Lebanese fighter group, the US Embassy in Damascus said in a cable published by Wikileaks.
The cable said increased Syrian support for Hezbollah, including longer-range rockets and guided missiles, "could change the military balance and produce a scenario significantly more destructive" than the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
While the US has publicly criticised Syria for supplying Hezbollah with what it describes as more sophisticated weapons, the cable showed that Washington believes Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran, has a presence in Syria.
Compelling reasons
"If rockets were to rain down on Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv, Israel would still have powerful incentives, as it did in 2006, to keep Syria out of the conflict," said the cable, written by Charge d'Affaires Charles Hunter in November 2009.
"But it might also face compelling reasons for targeting Hezbollah facilities in Syria, some of which are in and around populated areas," the cable said.
Israel refrained from widening the 2006 war by hitting Syria, which has kept the occupied Golan Heights front between the two countries quiet since 1974, although Israeli officials said then that Syria was supplying Hezbollah with missiles that were fired in their thousands on Israel during the 34-day war.
"Syrian leaders also appear convinced that arming Hezbollah will increase Syria's leverage in bringing Israel to the negotiating table," the cable said. It said Syria's military had attempted after 2006 to incorporate guerrilla warfare techniques used by Hezbollah and this meant "that Hezbollah operatives and facilities enjoy a growing footprint in Syria".
Subsequent meetings
It recommended raising the Hezbollah weapons supply issue in one-on-one meetings with President Bashar Al Assad, which was done by US Under Secretary William Burns in February this year and during subsequent meetings between Al Assad and US officials.
Prompted by an apparent Syrian refusal to stop the suspected arms flow and by a war of words between Syria and Israel, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, instructed the embassy to convey a message addressed to Al Assad.
The message, known as a demarche in diplomatic language, was delivered to Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al Mekdad on February 25 this year, the same day Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met Al Assad in Damascus.
The two leaders, however, dismissed calls by Clinton to loosen the decades-long alliance between Syria and Iran.
