Majdal Shams, Golan Heights ? Israel bombed a target inside Syria that it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base, striking deep inside its neighbor’s territory Sunday for the first time in three decades and widening its pursuit of Palestinian militants.

The airstrike — a retaliation for a suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis — alarmed the Arab world and deepened concerns that three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence could spread through the region. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing, in which 55 people were wounded.

Washington urged both sides to show restraint — but added pointed criticism of Syria, saying Damascus “must cease harboring terrorists and make a clean break from those responsible for planning and directing terrorist action from Syrian soil.”

With little option for military retaliation, Syria turned for international support. On requests from Damascus, the U.N. Security Council and the 22-member Arab League had emergency sessions Sunday as Syria’s foreign minister Farouq al-Sharaa sought measures to deter Israeli “aggression.”

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad called on the council to adopt a resolution condemning the attack.

“Arabs and many people across the globe feel that Israel is above the law,” Mekdad said.

Israel’s Ambassador Dan Gillerman defended the attack. He accused Syria of providing “safe harbor, training facilities, funding (and) logistical support” to terrorist organizations.

Syria’s draft calls for Israel to stop committing acts that could threaten regional security. It was unclear when the council would vote on the resolution or whether the United States would veto it.

Leaders of Islamic Jihad and other militant groups are based in Syria, but Jihad on Sunday denied having any training bases there. Syrian villagers near the targeted site said the camp had been used by Palestinian gunmen in the 1970s but was later abandoned — and was now only used by picnickers and other visitors to its spring and olive groves.

Syrian police and other security men stand guard at a checkpoint outside the area where Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Islamic Jihad training base in Ein Saheb, 14 miles northwest of Damascus, Syria. Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria on Sunday morning. The raid came in retaliation for an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing.

Aggressive move

The raid was a dramatic new tactic for Israel in its attempts to stop Palestinian militants. Closures, assassinations and military strikes into Palestinian areas have failed to stop suicide attacks, and Washington strongly opposes expelling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as Israel has threatened.

Israel said the bombing signaled it would pursue militants wherever support was found — and it added an accusation that Iran also backed Islamic Jihad. “Any country who harbors terrorism, who trains (terrorists), supports and encourages them will be responsible to answer for their actions,” government spokesman Avi Pazner said.

Arafat installs Cabinet

In the West Bank, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared a state of emergency and installed an emergency Cabinet with Ahmed Qureia as prime minister. The hasty action was an apparent attempt to deflect possible Israeli action against Arafat following the suicide bombing since Israel has threatened to expel him.

The leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV that the Israeli attack was “a grave development that exceeded all rules of the game.” He also warned Israel that the suicide bombing “will not be the last resistance operation” committed by his group.

In Egypt, the Arab League condemned the Israeli attack. It said the bombing “exposes the deteriorating situation in the region to uncontrollable consequences, which could drag the whole region into violent whirlpool.”

Christian Arab mourners carry the coffins of Osama Najar, 28, and Mutanis Kerkabi, staff of the Maxim beach restaurant in the northern port city of Haifa, both killed Saturday at a Palestinian suicide bombing attack. The funeral was Sunday.

The strike was launched just hours before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. It also came on the eve of the anniversary of the 1973 war between Israel and Syria, when Israel fought off a Syrian attack aimed at reversing Israel’s 1967 seizure of the Golan Heights, a strategic border plateau. Sunday marked Israel’s first military action deep in Syria since 1973.

The attack hit several targets at the Ein Saheb camp northwest of Damascus, Israeli security officials said. Hours later, plainclothes security officials banned journalists from approaching the camp. Dense trees blocked the site from view.

Bush administration officials said Israel had not informed Washington in advance of its retaliatory strike.

Base in Syria

Raanan Gissin, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the base was financed by Iran and used by several terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Undated footage said to be from the camp, taken from Iranian TV and released by the Israeli military on Sunday, shows a military officer conducting a tour of the camp. Hundreds of weapons, including grenades with Hebrew markings apparently captured from Israel, were displayed in one room. Underground tunnels were packed with arms and ammunition.

In an understanding with the Syrian government, Hamas and Jihad leaders have been careful in recent months to give statements from Lebanon to avoid the impression that they still operate from Damascus.

It seemed unlikely Syria would retaliate. It has 380,000 active duty soldiers, but Israel holds a commanding technological edge. Israel is more worried about Syria’s growing missile program and its ability to launch chemical and poison weapons into Israel’s cities.