Support for Syria strikes
FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has supported Israel’s right to self defence after the country launched air strikes on Syria in a bid to keep deadly weapons out of the grasp of Hezbollah terrorists.
FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has supported Israel’s right to self defence after the country launched air strikes on Syria in a bid to keep deadly weapons out of the grasp of Hezbollah terrorists.
Although there has been no official confirmation, Israel is believed to have carried out two air raids on munitions plants to disrupt weapons’ transfers from the crumbling regime of Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah.
Carr issued a statement on Monday, describing the civil war’s “destabilising regional impact”.
“I note that Israel has consistently said that it will take action to stop transfers of this kind. Hezbollah has a long history of attacks against Israel. The Australian government respects Israel’s right to take necessary and appropriate steps to defend itself,” Carr stated.
“The destabilising spillover of this war is acute. The disintegration of the Syrian state dramatically increases the risk of regional instability, including the prospect of weapons being transferred from the Syrian state to Hezbollah and other terrorist entities.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester said, “We thank the Australian government for acknowledging that Israel, like every sovereign nation, has the right to defend itself, and for taking a firm stance on this very serious issue.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein also welcomed the government’s “understanding of Israel’s need for self-defence in the face of advanced weapons transfers to Hezbollah – a terrorist group dedicated to Israel’s destruction”.
“We share Senator Carr’s goal of an end to the bloody, inconclusive and destabilising civil war in Syria, and a peaceful transition away from the Assad dictatorship, as well as his efforts to gain international agreement on humanitarian measures to reduce the suffering of the Syrian people in the interim.”
Dr Rubenstein also reiterated AIJAC’s call for Canberra to place a comprehensive ban on Australian dealings with Hezbollah, not just on its so-called External Security Organisation, which is classified by the Australian government as a proscribed organisation.
PETER KOHN
Foreign Minister Bob Carr.
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