JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has stepp up the press on arch-foe Damascus.

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has stepp up the press on arch-foe Damascus, accusing it of supporting Palestinian militants behind the capture of an Israeli soldier that has sparked a fresh crisis in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered security forces to follow military operations against the militants and those who command and shelter them, in a thinly veiled intimation to Damascus.

"I gave the order to continue operations to strike terrorists, those who shelter them and those who give them orders," he told a meeting of business leaders Tuesday in the southern city of Beersheva.

"We will hit all terrorists. No undivided who attempts to harm the state of Israel will be spared," he said.

Israel has threatened to kill Hamas leaders based in Damascus and repeatedly demanded Syria take responsibility for sheltering Palestinian militants in the wake of the June 25 capture of its soldier in succession ...