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Israeli F-16s bomb Syrian training camp

October 5, 2003 (by Lieven Dewitte) - Israeli F-16s bombed a terrorist training camp on the Syria-Lebanon border in retaliation for the suicide bombing in the northern city of Haifa.

The F-16s dropped several bombs and fired missiles at the Ain Saheb base 15 kilometers northwest of Damascus hours after the Haifa bombing. The facility belongs to Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or PFLP, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, but terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaida also use the camp for training.

One of the buildings hit in the raid was a weapons workshop used by Islamic Jihad. One man was reported injured.

According to the Israeli military, the base was targeted because Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Haifa bombing.

The strike marks the first time in more than 20 years that Israel's military struck deep into Syria. On April 16, 2001, Israeli warplanes hit a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, killing three Syrian soldiers, in retaliation for an attack by Syrian-backed guerrillas.