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A senior Israeli minister accused Syria on Sunday of committing genocide during its crackdown on a 15-month uprising and made the Jewish state's most explicit call yet for military action against its Arab neighbour. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz urged world powers to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the same way that last year's Western-backed campaign in Libya overthrew former strongman Muammar Gaddafi. In separate comments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Syrian government was slaughtering civilians with the support of Israel's arch-foes Iran and Hezbollah. "The world should understand what kind of environment we live in," he said in remarks to his cabinet that were later broadcast. Israel has until recently been slow to call for Assad's fall, wary of worsening the turmoil in Syria. The countries are enemies but have been in a mostly stable stand-off for decades. With hourly media reports in Israel of Syrian civilian deaths, public anger has been growing and Israeli officials have been stepping up their criticism. Israeli ministers have called for unspecified tougher action against Syria in recent weeks. Senior officials, speaking off the record, have confirmed that eventual action might include foreign military intervention. "A crime against humanity, genocide, is being conducted in Syria today. And the silence of the world powers is contrary to all human logic," Mofaz told Israel's Army Radio. "Since in the not-distant past the powers chose <b>...</b>