Syria Accuses Israel of Bombing Itself

Syria denied Israeli claims of Syrian involvement in the Friday suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv nightclub and accused Israel of bombing its own citizens to short circuit the peace process. Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group with links to Syria has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Syria has been widely suspected of complicity in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which has caused a backlash against Syria and the Syrian-backed Lebanese government. Syria has suggested that the Israeli security agency Mossad killed Hariri.

The terrorist attack in Tel Aviv could be just what Syria needed to take attention off itself in the Hariri assassination and refocus it on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, reinvigorated since Yassir Arafat's death.