JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a sharp warning to Syria not to engage Israel in battle, saying President Bashar Al-Assad would lose not only the war but also his power. When there is another war, you will not just lose it, but you and your family will lose power, he said, a day after Syria cautioned that Israel would face a bloody regional conflict if it failed to follow the path of peace. This must be our message because all that interests him is not human life, human values. The only value for him is power and that s what must be targeted, Lieberman said at a business conference broadcast on public radio. There must be a correlation, because unfortunately until now a military defeat did not mean a loss of power, he said. He pointed out that former Egyptian President Gamal Nasser and Syria s ex-leader Hafez Al-Assad - the father of the present president - both stayed in power after they were defeated in wars against Israel. It should be clear that if he provokes us it will end badly for him on the battlefield but also for his power. I hope this message will be heard in Damascus, the rightwing minister said at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. Assad said on Wednesday that Israel is not serious in seeking peace and that all signs are that it is working towards a war. Lieberman reacted angrily to the remarks. A line has been crossed. We cannot not react, he said. Israel s army radio pointed out that Lieberman s harsh words contrasted with the tone used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement earlier Thursday. The prime minister has declared on numerous occasions he is willing to go anywhere to negotiate with Syria, without precondition, his office said. Unfortunately Syria is raising obstacles and preventing negotiations on arrangements that would ensure peace, security and economic development for all parties, Netanyahu said. The previous government of Ehud Olmert held a series of Turkish-brokered peace feelers with Syria in 2008 but the indirect talks were broken off after Israel launched a devastating offensive against Gaza in December 2008. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had also railed against Israel on Wednesday, saying any war between the two countries would turn into a wider conflict. Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities, Muallem told journalists in the Syrian capital Damascus. Return to reason, follow the path of peace ... and implement the requirements of peace fairly and comprehensively, he said. Muallem had been questioned about comments made on Monday by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak. In the absence of a peace agreement with Syria, we might find ourselves in a forceful conflict that could lead to an all-out war, Barak s office quoted him as saying in a speech to senior officers on Monday. The Syrian minister said such statements heightened the risk of war in the region. If such a war comes ... it will be widespread even if it is waged against (just) southern Lebanon or Syria, Muallem warned, while excluding the chance of peace negotiations being launched after such a war. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.
