Sources: Israel warned Syria it could pay price for any Hezbollah attack

Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria through a third party that it would hold Damascus accountable for any Hezbollah attacks, Israeli and European sources said on Friday.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning stemmed largely from Israeli concerns that Hezbollah would launch salvoes of cross-border rockets to coincide with any major Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The sources said the message was conveyed in February through at least one European intermediary following the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander and before this month's five-day Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip in which more than 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed.

After the group's senior commander, Imad Mughniyah, was killed in a bombing in Damascus, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel with "open war".

Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah and its main backer, Iran, accused Israel of being behind the assassination, a charge Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denied in a rare public statement.

A European source familiar with the matter said the message conveyed to Damascus said Syria could be targeted by Israel even if Hezbollah's attack emanated from Lebanese soil.

An Israeli source with knowledge of government affairs said: "The message was passed around late February, before the last round of fighting in Gaza." Reuters