Syria: Israel raid on Gaza flotilla raises risk of Mideast war

Syria: Israel raid on Gaza flotilla raises risk of Mideast war | Haaretz
In interview with BBC, Assad says Israel being run by a 'pyromaniac government' that makes peace impossible

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Thursday that Israel is being run by a "pyromaniac government", warning that its raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip had increased the risks of war in the region.

The Israeli commando attack on a flotilla in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed had "destroyed any chance for peace in the near future", Assad told the BBC in a television interview aired on Thursday.

He said this was so "mainly because it proved that this government is another pyromaniac government, and you cannot achieve peace with such [a] government".

Israel, under mounting international pressure, has formed a five-person panel -- including two foreign observers -- to investigate events surrounding its May 31 interception of a six ship convoy heading to the Gaza Strip. Read more.