Israel is up to its neck in Syria
▻http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4652757,00.html
(Janvier 2015)
Alex Fishman, correspondant militaire du Yediot Ahronot : Le principe israélien qui est de ne pas intervenir [sic] en Syrie connaît des exceptions.
Et ces « exceptions » suffisent pour qu’Israel y soit « mêlée jusqu’au cou »
IDF Takes Control (Tacitly) of Syrian Golan
by RICHARD SILVERSTEIN on MAY 3, 2015
in MIDEAST PEACE
▻http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2015/05/03/idf-maintains-control-of-syrian-golan
Contrary to Israeli claims (including by Fishman himself) that this doesn’t constitute “taking sides” or intervening in the civil war, of course it does. When you flick a match into an oil drum it doesn’t matter that the match is very small and the drum very big. All it takes is a small spark. Therefore, any significant interference in Syria’s internal affairs is an intervention and taking sides against Assad and for the Islamists. Further, as my last post indicated, Israel has both acted affirmatively on behalf of the al Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra and refused to punish ISIS for mortar fire that struck Israeli-occupied territory. Thus, Fishman’s title: Israel is up to its neck with Islamist rebels.
The Israeli journalist offers further proof of Israeli control of the Syrian battleground by noting in the original Hebrew version of his article ( which curiously was omitted in the English translation ) that there are five Syrian Druze villages in the northern Golan. Despite the fact that they are strong supporters of the Assad regime, Syrian rebels have not attacked them. In fact, their lands are among the last that have remained untouched in the region of those which do support the government.
They are protected, according to a report in a Lebanese media outlet, by an agreement between the IDF and Druze leaders in Israeli-occupied Golan. A few months before outgoing chief of staff Benny Gantz left his post, he visited with the elders of the Druze community. There he promised them that their relatives in Syria’s Druze villages would not be harmed.
Fishman notes that whether or not the report is true, in practice this is what is happening. He continues:
“Such a pledge could only be made by someone in a position to control the [battle]field.”
This makes Israel an aggressive, interventionist state. We’ve known this for decades based on Israel’s willingness to pre-emptively attack enemies in war and carve up their territory and place it under control of vassals like the South Lebanon Army. But Syria offers further proof that Israel is a rogue state which refuses to acknowledge its behavior for what it is.
Despite Fishman’s claims that Israel’s intervention is relatively benign, Israel has long passed that point.