Assad confident Israel will eventually have to give up Golan

By ICEJ News

25 Mar 2010

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad told Lebanese TV on Wednesday that he is still committed to seeking a peace agreement with Israel but that he has no confidence that the current Israeli leadership will give him what he demands in return. He added that he believes Israel will eventually have no choice but to give Syria control of the strategic Golan Heights which it conquered in the 1967 Six Day War, because Israel’s conventional military superiority was losing relevance in the Middle East conflict. Syria has massively increased military aid to Hizbullah in recent months, and analysts believe that Damascus is feeling more confident in its confrontation with Israel as American influence in the region declines and Iranian power increases. In other regional news, security forces in Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that they have conducted a massive round-up of 113 suspected al-Qaida members in the last few months,  adding that several of the suspects were in the advanced stages of planning attacks on vital oil infrastructure in the Kingdom.

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