SOURCE: Al Jazeera
Ahead of the launch of Israel's war on Lebanon last summer, French President Jacques Chirac sent a message to Israel via a secret channel, expressing full support for a military assault against Lebanon, and suggesting that Israel invades Syria and topple its President Bashar Al Assad.
According to the Army Radio, the message delivered from the French President blamed Syria for the political turmoil in the region, citing its support to the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.
Speaking during an interview with Army Radio, former Israeli ambassador to France Nissim Zvilli said that "former prime minister Ariel Sharon had explained to the French in the past that Iran is the main one responsible for Hezbollah’s armament in Lebanon, while Chirac saw Syria as the primary one responsible for the matter,"
"President Chirac saw Syria as directly responsible for the attempt to undermine the Lebanese regime," he said. "He saw them as directly responsible for the murder of [former Lebanese prime minister] Rafiq Al Hariri and directly responsible for arming Hezbollah. Likewise, he saw Syria as the one giving Hezbollah orders on how to operate."
Last summer, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Lebanon, using the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah as a pretext for the war that killed over 1400 Lebanese civilians.
Later on it was uncovered that the war was planned long before the capture of those soldiers.
In March 2006, and before Israel began its military operation against Hezbollah, the French President boasted that Paris wouldn’t accept any violations by Syria or any attempts to destabilize Lebanon, warning Damascus of strong international response if it took any step that would, according to his statements, destabilize its neighbouring country.
"Syria must understand that any act that encroaches upon the stability of Lebanon, be it through the shipment of weapons or assassinations, is an act that contradicts with its standing in the international community and will trigger a response from the international community," Chirac said at the time.
Chirac had sought to push Israel to declare Syria responsible for the violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border and accuse it of supporting Hezbollah.
"Chirac completely misunderstood the Israeli interest," Maariv quoted a senior Israeli official as saying. "Israel is not looking for ways to attack Syria. Indeed, immediately after Chirac understood we were looking to end the war…the messages stopped."
An Israeli official in Jerusalem who demanded anonymity, suggested that "the U.S. would not have complained too much if Israel decided to invade Syria during the first days of the war."
The significance of the recent revelations, doesn’t only lie in the fact they uncover the hypocrisy of the French President but also the fact that such proposal was discussed at high-level professional forums in Israel's Foreign Ministry, but didn’t find its way to the political echelon because, according to analysts, Israel wasn’t prepared yet for war against Syria, which raises fears that Israel might be planning for that now, specially that its failure in Lebanon war cost the Israeli leaders the support of the nation, something that could be regained if Israel invaded Syria and achieved positive results.
Ahead of the launch of Israel's war on Lebanon last summer, French President Jacques Chirac sent a message to Israel via a secret channel, expressing full support for a military assault against Lebanon, and suggesting that Israel invades Syria and topple its President Bashar Al Assad.
According to the Army Radio, the message delivered from the French President blamed Syria for the political turmoil in the region, citing its support to the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.
Speaking during an interview with Army Radio, former Israeli ambassador to France Nissim Zvilli said that "former prime minister Ariel Sharon had explained to the French in the past that Iran is the main one responsible for Hezbollah’s armament in Lebanon, while Chirac saw Syria as the primary one responsible for the matter,"
"President Chirac saw Syria as directly responsible for the attempt to undermine the Lebanese regime," he said. "He saw them as directly responsible for the murder of [former Lebanese prime minister] Rafiq Al Hariri and directly responsible for arming Hezbollah. Likewise, he saw Syria as the one giving Hezbollah orders on how to operate."
Last summer, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Lebanon, using the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah as a pretext for the war that killed over 1400 Lebanese civilians.
Later on it was uncovered that the war was planned long before the capture of those soldiers.
In March 2006, and before Israel began its military operation against Hezbollah, the French President boasted that Paris wouldn’t accept any violations by Syria or any attempts to destabilize Lebanon, warning Damascus of strong international response if it took any step that would, according to his statements, destabilize its neighbouring country.
"Syria must understand that any act that encroaches upon the stability of Lebanon, be it through the shipment of weapons or assassinations, is an act that contradicts with its standing in the international community and will trigger a response from the international community," Chirac said at the time.
Chirac had sought to push Israel to declare Syria responsible for the violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border and accuse it of supporting Hezbollah.
"Chirac completely misunderstood the Israeli interest," Maariv quoted a senior Israeli official as saying. "Israel is not looking for ways to attack Syria. Indeed, immediately after Chirac understood we were looking to end the war…the messages stopped."
An Israeli official in Jerusalem who demanded anonymity, suggested that "the U.S. would not have complained too much if Israel decided to invade Syria during the first days of the war."
The significance of the recent revelations, doesn’t only lie in the fact they uncover the hypocrisy of the French President but also the fact that such proposal was discussed at high-level professional forums in Israel's Foreign Ministry, but didn’t find its way to the political echelon because, according to analysts, Israel wasn’t prepared yet for war against Syria, which raises fears that Israel might be planning for that now, specially that its failure in Lebanon war cost the Israeli leaders the support of the nation, something that could be regained if Israel invaded Syria and achieved positive results.