DAMASCUS, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian Information Minister on Sunday refuted Israel's accusation that it was behind the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

   "It is because Syria consistently opposes Israel's invasive policies that Syria was always blamed," Mahdi Dakhlullah told Xinhua after delivering a speech at the Damascus University.

   Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Saturday blamed Syria for the suicide bombing that killed four Israelis Friday evening.

   "The defense minister ruled that Israel sees Syria and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement as those standing behind the murderous attack in Tel Aviv," Mofaz's office said in a statement.

   Syria denied immediately that it had a role in the bombing.

   "Syria has no link to this operation or any other attack, and the Damascus office of the Islamic Jihad had been closed," a Syrian Foreign Ministry official said. 

   On Saturday, an official of the radical Islamic Jihad, speaking on a videotape, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. 

   Abdullah Shibaya, one of the movement's officials in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, the home town of the
Palestinian suicide bomber, said "the attack was carried out in response to killings and destruction of houses" by Israel. Enditem