Syria called an emergency UN Security Council meeting over Israel?s raid, saying it threatened ?security and peace in the region and internationally?. Israel said its deepest air strike into Syria in 30 years targeted a training camp for Palestinian militants and was in self-defence. Washington said it would not support a Syrian resolution condemning Israel?s raid as it made no mention of the suicide attack, in which 19 people were killed in an Israeli restaurant.

Syria wanted an immediate vote, but the United States ? which has a veto on the council ? said the resolution would have to go to capitals for study. Other diplomats said there would be no action until today, as the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday was celebrated yesterday.

?The United States believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism,? said US Ambassador John Negroponte, echoing past US demands for Damascus to stop supporting what Washington says are terror groups. Syria has denied the charges.

US President George W. Bush, whose aides said Israel told Washington of the air raid only hours afterwards, phoned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and urged both sides to observe restraint. Persistent violence has derailed a US-backed ?road map? for peace between Israelis and Palestinians that envisages a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Deterioration of the security situation

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, facing Israeli threats to ?remove him? over charges he incites violence, declared a state of emergency in Palestinian areas and approved an eight-member crisis cabinet under premier-nominee Ahmed Qurie.

A Palestinian official said two guards were wounded in the raid by Israeli warplanes on Sunday on a ?facility? of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The official said ?there are no training activities there?, but did not say what it was used for.

Israel said it hit a training camp used by ?terror groups?including Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Saturday?s suicide attack in the northern city of Haifa.

Hamas, a militant faction leading a three-year-old revolt against Israel for statehood, vowed to exact revenge for the air strike on what it said was a Palestinian refugee camp.

It said it had started by firing 10 mortar bombs toward a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. It gave no further details and there was no immediate Israeli comment.

Israel said it did not intend to pick a fight with Syria but wanted the air strike to serve as a warning for it to stop Palestinian militant groups operating on Syrian territory. Israel?s UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman, who left the Security Council as soon as he finished speaking for the Yom Kippur holiday, accused Syria of ?complicity and responsibility? in Palestinian suicide bombings.

Israel?s air raid was the first time it had struck so far inside Syrian territory since the 1973 Middle East war, military experts said.

Arafat took emergency measures in apparent response to growing pressure from the Israeli public and powerful rightists in Sharon?s coalition cabinet to exile the former guerrilla leader, who denies fomenting the violence of militant groups.

?We have a deterioration of the security situation and we need to assert control over security,? Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurie told Reuters.

He was alluding both to suicide attacks by Islamist radicals vowing to destroy Israel and the Sharon government?s military actions against militants, including assassinating leaders in missile strikes. An Arafat ally, Nasser Youssef, will be interior minister running security in the eight-member crisis cabinet. US favourites Salam Fayyad and Nabil Shaath retain the finance and foreign affairs portfolios.

Syrian-based Palestinian groups have kept a low profile to reduce pressure on their hosts, who say they have only media arms of groups that include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP.

Politics

Syria calls on UN council to condemn Israeli raid

Syria demanded the UN Security Council condemn Israel for attacking a purported Palestinian training camp near Damascus, but Israel countered the raid was self-defense against terrorism.

The 15-nation council met in emergency session to consider a Syrian-drafted resolution accusing Israel of violating international law and expressing ?grave concern with the escalating situation in the Middle East.? Syrian Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad, the only Arab council members, called for an immediate vote on the draft. But US Ambassador John Negroponte said the measure would first have to be sent to capitals for study and made clear the United States would not support the draft.

During the public council meeting, dozens of ambassadors from Middle East nations denounced Israel. All council members who spoke except the United States denounced both the Haifa attack and the raid on Syria. Negroponte said Washington had learned about the Israeli raid only after it took place and urged all sides to ?avoid actions that could lead to a further heightening of tension in the Middle East.?

Reactions

Quotes on Israel?s strike in Syria

?The United States believes that Syria is on the wrong of the side of the war on terrorism. We believe it is in Syria?s interest, and in the broader interest of Middle East peace, for Syria to stop harbouring and supporting the groups that perpetrate acts such as the one that occurred yesterday.? ? US Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte.

?Israel?s action today is unacceptable and represents an escalation. Israel should not allow its justified anger at continuing terrorism to lead to actions that undermine both the peace process and we believe Israel?s own interests.? ? Britain?s UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

Israel continues ?to flout the Charter of the United Nations to the point that Arabs and many people across the globe feel that Israel is above the law.? ? Syria?s UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad.

Syria has been providing ?safe harbour, training facilities, funding, logistical support? to terrorist organizations. The strike was a ?measured defensive response.? ? Israel?s UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman.

The attack ?reflects Israel?s aggressive intentions toward Arab lands, whether in Syria or Palestine.? ? Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

?This Israeli declaration is a failed attempt by the Zionist entity?s leadership to export its internal crisis and historic predicament (...) to neighbouring countries.? ? Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

?We all condemn violence and the killing of civilians on both sides, just like we condemn what happened today, the aggression on a close country.? ? Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

?This is an aggression on an Arab brotherly country (...) It can drag the whole region into a circle of violence.? ? Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher.

Mark Heinrich