After Years of Denial; Israel Says It Has a Role in Syria’s Civil War

After several years of denial, Israel now acknowledges that it has involvement in the Syrian war and says it does so to ensure its own security and not to influence the political course in that country.

Since the beginning of the war in Syria six years ago, Israel had stated that it had no involvement in it. But now the commander of the Israeli military general staff revealed that Israel is providing money and weapons to a group that is considered among the secular opponents of President Bashar Assad and they are also fighting ISIS.

General Gadi Eisenkot, chief of the Israeli military general staff, made these revelations in a speech at a university conference, but refrained from providing details about the extent of the aid. However, Israeli media outlets in recent days have published more detailed information on this matter.

Political analysts are asking how Israel is breaking its previous silence and revealing parts of the extent of its involvement. The question is whether this could be related to the increased military involvement of the United States in the Syrian war and the downing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard drones?

Until recently, Israel’s stated policy could be summarized in two objectives: one was to prevent Iran’s control over Syria, and the other was to prevent the transfer of weapons sent by Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Syrian territory.

In this regard, Israel carried out several airstrikes in Syria, some of which targeted the military presence of Revolutionary Guard commanders in areas bordering Syria with Israel, and several other strikes aimed at destroying weapon convoys from Damascus to Lebanon.

From General Eisenkot’s recent remarks, it appears that Israel has not been very successful in preventing weapons from reaching Hezbollah. The chief of the Israeli military staff said in his remarks that large quantities of Russian weapons have also reached Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Regarding the first objective, Israeli military officials are deeply concerned that with the fall of Raqqa, the administrative center of ISIS in northern Syria, Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces could triumphantly enter that city and establish a direct land route from within Iran through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.

Eisenkot said in his remarks that Hezbollah, with financial and military assistance from Iran, will be considered the greatest security threat to Israel. Obviously, if Revolutionary Guard personnel themselves were to be permanently stationed in Syria, this threat would increase and Iranian threats would reach Israel’s borders.

Israeli military experts revealed that the Israeli army, in front of the eyes of UN peace observers stationed along Syria’s border with Israel, provides weapons, money, and provisions to a group of Syrian opposition members.

According to these experts, the number of these groups reaches over twenty, all of whose members are local secular individuals, and Israel wants to strengthen them to prevent ISIS from approaching its borders or Revolutionary Guard personnel from being stationed in those areas.

Another Israeli action is accepting wounded non-combatants from the Syrian civil war. It is said that over the three years this has been going on, at least three thousand wounded have been treated for free in that country.

But Israel’s opponents reject the claim that all the wounded are civilians and say that some of the wounded are associated with fighters opposing Bashar Assad and may even include ISIS members. General Eisenkot’s revelations confirm at least part of these claims.

General Eisenkot said in his remarks that Israel has very good intelligence sources inside Syria – which, according to experts, are obtained through providing such aid and other methods.

With the more active involvement of American forces in the Syrian war, regional equations change somewhat and Israel must adapt to them and achieve maximum coordination with American forces.

This political and military reality becomes even more important when it is recalled that there is a kind of cooperation between Israeli and Russian forces. Both sides keep the nature and extent of this coordination secret – but it is undeniable that most Israeli airstrikes against Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah targets on Syrian soil have been carried out with the knowledge and probably permission of Russian forces stationed in that country.

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior member of the Russian parliament, said that the governments of Moscow and Jerusalem should increase their coordination efforts on Syrian soil. These remarks were made after the US military shot down a Syrian air force Sukhoi-22 fighter jet and faced a warning from the Moscow government.

Some political experts confirm that from the perspective of Israel’s national interests, it might be better for Bashar Assad to remain in power. Israelis believe that Syrian secular groups (numbering over a thousand groups and factions) are weak, and if Assad’s government falls, there is fear that ISIS would replace it.

But a major danger of Assad remaining is that because of the debt he owes to the Islamic Republic of Iran for his survival, he would place his country in the hands of the Revolutionary Guards, which from the perspective of Israel’s security would be catastrophic.

Source: Voice of America