Israel 'bombs' Syria as envoy presses peace talks bid

Israel has reportedly bombed a Syrian base to halt an arms shipment to Hezbollah, while the international Syria envoy said today there could be no peace talks without the opposition.

The reported air strike on a military base in regime stronghold Latakia on Wednesday would be the first Israeli strike on Syria since a US-Russian accord on chemical weapons averted punitive US military action last month.

Israel did not comment on the reports that emerged yesterday, but it has struck Syria in the past and warned it will continue to take action to prevent sophisticated weapons from falling into the hands of Hezbollah -- a key Damascus ally -- and other militant groups.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said Israel had targeted a shipment of surface-to-surface missiles destined for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement fighting alongside the regime.

A US official confirmed to AFP that "there was an Israeli strike" but gave no details on the location or the target.

Syria, which has cooperated with international disarmament efforts, has vowed to retaliate against any attack but did not respond when Israel carried out two air strikes in May.

Hoping to build on the momentum of last month's US-Russian accord to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal by mid-2014, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has meanwhile been criss-crossing the region to rally support for the so-called Geneva II talks.

But Syria's opposition has refused to attend unless President Bashar al-Assad's resignation is on the table -- a demand rejected by Damascus -- and powerful rebel groups have warned that anyone attending the talks will be viewed as a traitor.

"If the opposition does not participate there will be no Geneva conference," Brahimi told reporters in Damascus before travelling to Beirut.

The veteran Algerian diplomat, who met with Assad on Wednesday, said the government had agreed to take part in the talks and that the opposition was "trying to find a way to be represented".

The main opposition National Coalition plans to meet November 9 to decide whether to attend the Geneva talks, but a key member of the bloc, the Syrian National Council, has said it will leave the umbrella group if it does so.