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Fears of Israel being dragged into Syria’s civil war grew Tuesday after a notorious Palestinian militant group said it had been given the “green light” by Damascus to attack Israeli targets.

The announcement came as President Bashar al-Assad said his country was capable of facing Israel, in his first comments since the Jewish state launched air strikes on Syria over the weekend.

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The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a group accused of an airline bombing and numerous other terrorist atrocities, has been authorised by Mr Assad to set up missile batteries to attack Israel, according to Anwar Raja, the group’s spokesman in Damascus.

“Syria has given the green light to set up missile batteries to directly attack Israeli targets,” Mr Raja said.

The comments by the Popular Front, which has its power base among the Palestinian refugee camps of Syria, came as John Kerry, the US secretary of state, began talks in Russia in an attempt to find “common ground” on Damascus.