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Contrary to popular belief, Israel is very much involved in the destabilization of Syria

21st Century Wire

SPECIAL REPORT

Israeli warplanes hit two separate areas near Syria’s capital of Damascus yesterday, including a facility at the city’s international airport. This latest attack reveals a pattern of involvement which spells out Tel Aviv’s role in the destabilzation of Syria, which includes providing intelligence, air support, arms, and medical assistance – to Islamic insurgents inside Syria.

“This afternoon, the Israeli enemy targeted two safe areas in Damascus province, namely the Dimas area and the Damascus International Airport,” said the Syrian Armed Forces General Command.



(Image Source: The Guardian)

As is customary, Israeli officials refused to ‘confirm or deny’ the bombing raid, in what the Jerusalem Post describes as, “Maintaining a policy of ambiguity that is meant to allow the other side to save face and to stave off retaliation”.

Israel is claiming this, its fifth unprovoked airstrike against Syria in 18 months (see full list of attacks below), was carried out as a ‘defensive measure’, claiming that Syria was “hiding sophisticated weaponry destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon”. A Lebanese TV correspondent believes that Israel struck 10 crucial intelligence-linked locations in Syria that “belonging to Iran”. The same news outlet also reported other explosions heard near the Israeli-Lebanese border, allegedly from IDF air force maneuvers.

Israel regularly claims it is under threat from neighboring Syria and Lebanon, and has used this as justification to attack its neighbors. The Syrian government claims Israel’s latest airstrike had an ulterior motive, describing it as “direct aggression carried out to help the Syrian government’s opponents”. The ‘opponents’ Syrian officials are referring to are US-backed rebels, ISIS and Turkey.

Syrian officials also stated, “This direct aggression by Israel was carried out to help the terrorists in Syria, after our armed forces secured important victories in Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and elsewhere.”

The Syrian army spoke to Press TV, who reported: “Israel’s direct support for terrorism in Syria,” saying it had targeted two ‘safe areas’ in Damascus where both civilian and military aircraft operated. The international airport in Damascus is located southeast of the capital near areas such as Eastern Ghouta, where ISIL militants have gained control over much of its territories.”



Turkey has been working together with Israel to diminish Syria’s military capability to fight off US-backed rebel terrorist groups, most notably when Israel used a Turkish military base to launch its July 5, 2013 attack on a depot in the Syrian port of Latakia.

Israel and Turkey Joint Support of FSA, al Nusra and ISIS

Israel’s strategic partnership with Turkey, a known supporter of Islamic foreign fighters in Syria (see details below), puts Israel squarely in the frame with US and GCC-backed Islamic insurgent fighting groups, including Islamic State terrorist (ISIS/ISL).

Among other sources, the Jerusalem Post reported one testimony from an ISIS fighter confirming that Turkey is funding the Islamic terrorist group. As a NATO member and close ally of the US, it is now widely understood how Turkey has played the pivotal role in helping foreign terrorist fighters and ISIS militants, in its wider effort to help destablize and exact the official US foreign policy of regime change in Damascus, Syria.

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This week, it was also confirmed how Turkey has refused to allow a U.S.-led coalition aircraft to attack ISIS jihadists which Turkey regularly allows to roam freely in and out of its country. Despite regular denials and oobfuscation from officials in Washington, it’s now well-known how its other close U.S. allies – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan – have all played key material roles in backing Islamic fighters including al Nusra brigades and ISIS terrorists.

Israel and ISIS: ‘Arms for Medical’ Scandal



Foreign Policy Magazine (CFR) recently published documents admitting how Israel is also treating ISIS terrorists for free in its hospitals, and providing medical care and other unidentified supplies to the insurgents. Global Research/Washington’s Blog explains the revelation:

“In the past three months, battle-hardened Syrian rebels have transported scores of wounded Syrians across a cease-fire line that has separated Israel from Syria since 1974, according to a 15-page report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the work of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Once in Israel, they receive medical treatment in a field clinic before being sent back to Syria, where, presumably, some will return to carry on the fight.”

“U.N. blue helmets responsible for monitoring the decades-old cease-fire report observing armed opposition groups “transferring 89 wounded persons” from Syrian territory into Israel, where they were received by members of the Israel Defense Forces, according to the report. The IDF returned 21 Syrians to armed opposition members back in Syria, including the bodies of two who died.”



AID & COMFORT: Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu greets and congratulates Syrian Islamic terrorist at Israeli hospital.

Israel’s assistance to terrorist rebels in Syria is not limited to medical, as the Times of Israel reported in September 2014, about Israel’s ‘Arms for Medical’ exchange with Syrian insurgents:

“A Free Syrian Army commander, arrested last month by the Islamist militia Al-Nusra Front, told his captors he collaborated with Israel in return for medical and military support, in a video released this week. In a video uploaded to YouTube Monday … Sharif As-Safouri, the commander of the Free Syrian Army’s Al-Haramein Battalion, admitted to having entered Israel five times to meet with Israeli officers who later provided him with Soviet anti-tank weapons and light arms. Safouri was abducted by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front in the Quneitra area, near the Israeli border, on July 22. “The [opposition] factions would receive support and send the injured in [to Israel] on condition that the Israeli fence area is secured. No person was allowed to come near the fence without prior coordination with Israel authorities,” Safouri said in the video. “In the edited confession video, in which Safouri seems physically unharmed, he says that at first he met with an Israeli officer named Ashraf at the border and was given an Israeli cellular phone. He later met with another officer named Younis and with the two men’s commander, Abu Daoud. In total, Safouri said he entered Israel five times for meetings that took place in Tiberias. Following the meetings, Israel began providing Safouri and his men with “basic medical support and clothes” as well as weapons, which included 30 Russian [rifles], 10 RPG launchers with 47 rockets, and 48,000 5.56 millimeter bullets.”

In March, Haaretz also reported:

“The Syrian opposition is willing to give up claims to the Golan Heights in return for cash and Israeli military aid against President Bashar Assad, a top opposition official told Al Arab newspaper, according to a report in Al Alam. (…) The Western-backed militant groups want Israel to enforce a no-fly zone over parts of southern Syria to protect rebel bases from air strikes by Assad’s forces, according to the report.”

In addition to this, on Sept 23, 2014, Israel used its air defense support to provide air cover to Islamic militants (ISIS) in Syria’s Golan Heights region when an IDF Patriot Missile battery shot down a Syrian MIG21, allegedly because it “violated Israeli airspace”. The timing of the Israeli move was somewhat uncanny – coming just after the US launched its unilateral attack on Islamic State targets in northeastern Syria.

Just one week before the Israeli attack, Jabhat al-Nusra fighters drove out hundreds of UN peacekeepers from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, taking their uniforms and vehicles, and terrorist fighters “had succeeded in occupying all of the Syrian side” of the Golan Heights, forcing troops from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) to retreat. It’s well known about Israel’s desire to retake the Golan Heights and the Civil War in Syria may provide them with the perfect cover they need to achieve this.

Israel’s support of Islamic militants in Syria also includes supplying strategic information to ISIS/ISIL fighters operating inside Syria. Alexander Prokhanov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Press TV on Dec 7, 2014, that the Israeli Mossad spy agency has been providing key data and information, as well as ‘training assistance’ to ISIS/ISIL militants.

Many now believe that the US and Israel’s current involvement in toppling Syria’s leadership is a continuation Israel’s Yinon Plan to decapitate the leadership of any remaining Arab nationalist governments in the Middle East and North Africa.

21WIRE journalist Andrew McKillop explains, “The plan was named after Israel’s minister of foreign affairs at the time of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut, with about 25 000 dead, this divide-and-rule geostrategic plan for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) lives on. Victims of this strategy since 2011 – operated by Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia – are divided and weakened states like Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Egypt and even Tunisia can also possibly be added to the list. Others, like Lebanon, can be identified as likely short-term target victim countries.”



IDF STRIKE SYRIA: Aftermath of the Israeli airstrike near Damascus in May 2013.

UN Afraid to Cite Israel Over Airstrikes

Following yesterday’s attack by Israel, Syria has called for UN sanctions against Israel over its air strikes in violation of Syria’s territorial sovereignty as recognized by international law and conventions.

Al Jazeera reports, “There was no threat of retaliation, but the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had asked Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, and the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel, describing Sunday’s alleged attack as “a heinous crime against Syria’s sovereignty”.

Thus far, the UN policy towards Israel’s continuous attacks on its neighbors is not to mention it or ask for any accountability for any of Israel’s actions, even if it has killed civilians – a policy which is in direct contravention to both the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremburg principles forbidding undeclared wars.

Many now believe that this is because of heavy diplomatic pressure being placed, as well as threats issued by Washington DC to pull funding from UN if it ever moves against Israeli interests, which would include its numerous undeclared military incursions.

Since 2006, Israel has conducted several air strikes on Syria. Below is a description of those attacks:

Damascus and Dimas attack (7 December 2014) – Alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria against a warehouse of advanced S-300 missiles, which were en route to Hezbollah in Lebanon.[25]

Missile Strike at Golan Heights (23 September 2014) – IDF Patriot Missile battery shot down a Syrian MIG21, allegedly because it violated Israeli airspace.

Beqaa Valley airstrike (24 February 2014) – Two airstrikes against an alleged Hezbollah missile base in Lebanon near the border with Syria.[21]

2nd Latakia attack (26 January 2014) – Alleged Israeli airstrike against a Syrian warehouse of S-300 missiles.[20]

Snawbar airstrike (30 October 2013) – Alleged Israeli airstrike at an air defense site in Snawbar.[19]

Latakia explosion (5 July 2013) – Alleged Israeli airstrike on a Syrian depot containing Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles.[18]

Airstrikes on Syria (3-5 May 2013) – Airstrikes on Syria against alleged long-ranged weapons sent from Iran to Hezbollah.[16][17]

Jamraya airstrike (30 January 2013) – Alleged Israeli airstrike on a Syrian convoy allegedly transporting weapons to Hezbollah.[14] Other sources stated the targeted site was a military research center in Jamraya responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.[15]

Operation Orchard (6 September 2007) Israeli airstrike on a ‘suspected’ nuclear reactor[4] in the Deir ez-Zor region[5] of Syria. The Israeli and U.S. governments imposed virtually total news blackouts immediately after the raid that held for seven months.[6]

Ain es Saheb airstrike (5 October 2003) – Israeli Air Force operation against an alleged Palestinian militant training camp in Ain es Saheb, Syria.

Additionally, Israel has attacked Lebanon repeatedly, most notably in 2006 when it slaughtered some 1,500 Lebanese civilians during its indiscriminate bombing raids hitting residential areas and targeting ‘infrastructure’ in neighboring Lebanon:

Operation Just Reward (12 July – 14 August 2006) – Israeli counterattack which began with air force bombing of Hezbollah positions in Southern Lebanon. Israel attacked Lebanon in this bloody siege which ended with 1,191 Lebanese dead in total (including combatants and foreign civilians in Lebanon) and over 4,000 injured. The IDF lost only 121 soldiers, and Israeli civilians said to have died were 43.

21WIRE contributors to this report are Peter Sterry, Jason Smith and Patrick Henningsen.

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