TEHRAN The bloody Intifada, or general uprising of the Palestinians and Arabs, which has been going on for the past six months, will ultimately bring the Zionists to their knees and thwart them in their aggressive and expansionist policies, said an analyst here yesterday.

"The time has changed, and the tactics applied by the Zioinsts for the past half a century will not work any more," she added.

Going into detail, she said, "During the past half a century, the Zionists have been buying the influential rulers and politicians to serve their aims and interests. Egypt is the best example, as all know that the Zionists bought former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat through the mediation of the United States. As a result, he was the first Arab leader to fly to Tel Aviv and shake hands with Golda Meir."

The analyst went on to say, "Just after the Camp David agreement in 1978, the United States started giving more than $2.1 billion in aid to Egypt. It was the prize Egypt received by recognizing an occupier and oppressor regime."

As regards the present situation in the region, she said, "The Zionists are presently facing the masses, not the rulers or politicians. Naturally, they can't buy the masses or pressure or intimidate them, as they used to do with regard to their rulers or politicians."

She predicted that the Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and other occupied territories will ultimately bring the Zionists to their knees through their Intifada and liberate their occupied homeland.

Israel's jets killed at least three Syrian soldiers and wounded six others in a raid on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon on Monday, prompting warnings from Lebanon that it was provoking war.

The Israeli Army said the raid was a clear warning to Syrian leaders that it would pay if it did not drop its support for the Hizbollah in their fight against Israel.

Iran on Monday strongly condemned fresh Israeli air strikes on targets in Lebanon's central mountains and Syrian radar station in Lebanon, saying such adventurism by Israel aims to divert the public opinion from Israel's suppressive measures against Palestinians.

"Continuation of Israeli atrocities is doomed to failure and cannot keep the Lebanese and Palestinians from obtaining the basic rights denied them," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi told a Tehran press conference.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, after a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said Lebanon would keep working to free the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

"The Israeli raids reveal anew the blood-colored policies which (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has adopted since he came to power... These policies will only lead to comprehensive confrontation," a presidency statement quoted Lahoud as saying.

"Israel is responsible for the consequences of this dangerous escalation which will not stop Lebanon from seeking all measures and moves to liberate the Shebaa Farms."

Hizbollah, whose forces helped to drive Israeli forces out of South Lebanon last May after 22 years, killed an Israeli soldier on Saturday in an attack on the Shebaa Farms.

Monday's strike was the first against Syrian forces since 1996, when Israeli planes fired at antiaircraft guns in Beirut, killing one Syrian soldier and seriously wounding seven others.

Security sources said four Israeli planes had fired six rockets at the radar station and one at a nearby Syrian position on a hill near the main Damascus-Beirut Highway, some 35km (22 miles) east of Beirut in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley. A Reuters correspondent saw smoke billowing over the scene.

Also Palestinian officials urged the United States and Arab nations on Monday to help prevent an Israeli raid on a Syrian position inside Lebanon from escalating and spreading into regional war.

"This is a new and dangerous development and is an expansion to the sphere of war, and we had warned against this since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Amr.

"This dangerous move should make the United States immediately move to stop this deterioration and try to put the Arabs and the Israelis back at the negotiating table," Amr, an aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told Reuters.

France also expressed concern Monday after Israel bombed the Syrian military facility in Lebanon and called on "all sides" to end the violence.

AFP carried a Foreign Ministry statement that underscored mounting worries in Paris over Mideast violence. In the statement the ministry warned of a "risk of escalation from military operations" in the region.

Meanwhile, Qatar accused Israel on Monday of a "serious escalation" after Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian radar position in Lebanon killing at least two soldiers.

"This aggression is a serious escalation and a return to violence in the region. It is a flagrant defiance of international resolutions," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

He said Qatar, as current president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), sought a "rapid and effective intervention" by Washington and Moscow as cosponsors of the Middle East peace process "to halt the Israeli aggressions".

AFP meanwhile, quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as saying that he was opposed to the overnight raid on the Syrian target in Lebanon.

Peres, the leading dove in hardline Sharon's government considered the raid ill-timed because of the risks of an escalation it could carry although he was not opposed in principle to such operations, the source said.

Ephraim Sneh, another Labor cabinet minister, who has the transport portfolio, voted against the decision to launch the raids at a special late-night cabinet meeting, while nine ministers were in favor, the source added.

Also, a house on the Egyptian side of the divided town of Rafah on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was hit by a bullet late Sunday, but there were no casualties, an Egyptian police source said.

It was the second border incident on the Egyptian side in two days, resulting from clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.

The stray bullet hit the front of the building, leaving a hole one centimeter (0.4 of an inch) deep and five centimeters (2 inches) across, he added, without specifying whether the bullet was Israeli or Palestinian.

The residents of Rafah closed their doors and windows to protect themselves from exchanges of fire, the source said.