Intelligence

US mum on slaying of Hamas militant in Syria, urges action against terrorism

Yahoo! News - US mum on slaying of Hamas militant in Syria, urges action against terrorism

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States refused to comment on or condemn the weekend killing in Syria of a founder of the radical Islamist Hamas movement in a bombing that has been blamed on Israel.

The State Department allowed that the death of Ezzeddin Sheikh Khalil, who was killed on Sunday when his booby-trapped car exploded in Damascus, had been "violent" but would not take any position on the slaying and reiterated its demands for Syria to crack down on alleged terrorists.

"We urge Syria to take steps to halt the activities of individuals and organizations that facilitate and direct violence and terror and that operate from Syrian territory," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

"There are terrorist organizations and terrorist individuals operating out of Syria with the support and connivance of the government of Syria and that is not in the interests of peace and not consistent with statements in favor of peace," he said.

"Terrorism begets a cycle of violence that can be dealt with through ending support of terrorist organizations," he said, declining to speculate on who might have been behind the car bombing or characterize the explosion in any way except as "violent."

"I think a car bomb blowing somebody up is violent," Ereli said.

Syria and Hamas have both accused Israel of murdering Khalil and about 3,000 Palestinians, urging vengeance against the Jewish state at his funeral on Monday.

Israel has stopped short of taking responsibility for the attack but said Syria "cannot possibly enjoy immunity when it shelters the headquarters of terrorist organizations" and Israeli newspapers reported Monday that the killing bore the hallmark of the Israeli secret services.

Ereli would not be drawn on the question of responsibility for the attack but, when asked, mentioned in passing that the US policy of opposing so-called "targeted killings" by Israel remained unchanged.

"Our position on targeted killings I think is well known," he said, without elaborating.

Khalil's killing came just days after US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) held what he termed "positive" talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The meeting marked a significant shift in recent negative developments in relations between Washington and Damascus which reached a low point earlier this year with the imposition of new US sanctions against Syria for its support of alleged terrorists and lack of cooperation in dealing on Iraq (news - web sites).

Ereli's comments on Monday seemed to contrast with Powell's upbeat remarks last week in which he said he sensed a "new attitude from the Syrians" on a variety of a US concerns.

In the wake of the killing, a senior State Department official said the United States feared possible anti-US demonstration and possible violence in Syria and had expressed concern to the Syrian government about the safety of US facilities there.

"There have been meetings in Syria between our ambassador and Syrian authorities to urge protections for American government facilities," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "In light of the violence, there is concern for further action."

The US embassy in Damascus urged Americans in Syria to be aware of the potential of unruly protests.

September 27, 2004 at 05:31 PM in Middle East | Permalink | TrackBack (106) | Top of page | Blog Home