By Stan Goodenough
Sep 12, 2007
Syria's ambassador to the United Nations warned Wednesday Israel has yet to hear Damascus' answer to the "act of hostility" committed by the Israeli Air Force last week.
"Our response has not yet come," Bashar al-Jaafari told the BBC's Arabic-language service.
He accused Israel of "seeking military escalation," but stressed that Damascus was "exerting efforts so that we don't fall into this trap."
In fact, Syria is thought to be waging its diplomatic offensive in order to prepare the ground politically for a possible military attack on Israel.
Damascus would want the international community to see any such action as a "justifiable" response to the Israeli "aggression."
In the event of a war erupting between Israel and Syria, the world's position would then be that "Israel started it."