The Zionist regime extended its aggression against the homeless Palestinian refugees into Syria on Sunday, bombing a refugee camp deep inside Syria, near the capital Damascus for the first time in decades. Israeli officials claim that the attack was in response to what the Zionists call suicide bomb attack that killed 19 people in an Israeli restaurant.

In its official statement, Israel said its air force had struck a training base used by Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as a warning to Damascus that there will be no immunity for supporters of what it calls "terrorist organizations.

However, the strike was the first direct military confrontation between Israel and Syria since the Yom Kippur war exactly 30 years ago.

Islamic Jihad denies that it has any fighters in Syria. Syrian and other sources maintain Israel hit a former training camp which was evacuated more than a year ago and had since then been used as a camp to shelter families of Palestinian refugees living in Syria.

In fact, it is quite a while since the Palestinian combatant groups’ offices in Syria have limited their activities merely to media functions. They claim they have done so in order to reduce the U.S.-Israeli pressure on the host country.

As a matter of fact, the Israeli Air Force raid inside the Syrian territory - a sovereign government that happens to be one of the ten non–veto holding members of the United Nations Security Council -, constitutes a violation of the disengagement accord signed by both Syria and Israel in 1974.

Moreover, while the Middle East peace talks known as “the Road Map” are in process- undermined by the aggressive measures of the Zionists, though - , violating the sovereignty of a third country only complicates further the process.

It is not hard to understand the fact that the recent attack could only result in a further escalation of violence in the region and will only deepen the ongoing vicious circle of violence.

Political analysts believe that like other Zionist atrocities, the raid has been carried out with the green light signal from the United States.

By embarking on the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pursues a few objectives, the most important of which is firstly to prevent the return of Syria’s Golan Heights occupied by Israel. Secondly, through pressuring Syria, Sharon and his patron, the U.S. is aiming to prevent the return of the Palestinian refugees in Syria to the occupied lands.

Thirdly, Sharon, the butcher of the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps is committing every crime in a bid to reinforce his fighting image at home. Sharon and his accomplices, who are faced with the impasse created by the Intifada, think that the display of power against Syria, one of Israel's most bitter foes, would alleviate their helplessness to some extent.

However, it is incumbent upon Muslim nations and states, Arab League and lastly the public opinion all over the world to unanimously condemn the Zionist regime’s atrocity. The Muslim world should note that the regime’s atrocities will not be limited to Syria. Media report that Israel might bomb leaders of Palestinian groups inside Syria and Lebanon. Also, the Security Council should hold a session to discuss the attack.

Meanwhile, the supporter of the regime, the U.S. could and should order its puppet regime in the region to put an end to such provocative measures. The Zionists will definitely take the order, as they did in the case of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It is known to everyone that if it were not for the U.S. sake, they would have already assassinated or expelled the veteran Palestinian leader.

The U.S. should note that the cancerous tumor in the Middle East-Israel- intends to set fire to the whole region. The stunning decision by Israel to widen its crackdown to neighboring countries seems to be a political message but it is at the same time a dangerous development that should be and will be addressed.