A senior commander in the rebel army thanks Israel for striking Assad’s army, relates the harsh combat conditions, and says that the possibility of al-Qaeda extremists taking over concerns him more than the need to defeat the regime. “The Saudis and Qataris are sending weapons to overthrow Assad, but only to Islamist extremists. We need the West and Israel to balance the scales” “Israel saved the lives of our warriors. We, using our meager weapons, can cause the Syrian army the same damage only in an attack that will cost us the lives of many soldiers. Israel is not endangering us or itself. It caused heavy damage to an artillery squad, and therefore it helped a great deal.”“We get help from many different sources. It comes through Jordan, Turkey and other countries. Our warfare is still based on light weapons, except for a few exceptions. We are still inferior to the Syrian army. The Syrian army’s helicopters and fighter planes that hit us are the most problematic. We currently do not have a way to deal with them, and they cause us a lot of damage and many casualties. In order to win we must be able to shoot down planes. We have a few Kornet anti-tank missiles that we got through channels we cannot disclose. We already managed to shoot down helicopters in several places, but in really small numbers.”“In recent weeks, General Hafez Makhlouf, Assad’s Strategic Warfare Advisor, has been sending forces to the area of the border with Israel. The plan is clear: to keep a low profile, not to respond to Israeli attacks, and to leave a small fire burning – keeping the option of setting the area on fire if necessary”An officer in the Israeli Northern Command that gave an interview to the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, says that rebels identified with al-Qaeda have taken control of the demilitarized zone near Quneitra and the villages near the Israeli border, and they are trying to drag the Syrian army into an area where the field conditions are difficult for warfare. Senior functionaries in the IDF have responded that this is an exaggeration: “There is the concern of global terrorist organizations spilling into western Syria, but they are far from the Israeli border. “The battles in the villages near Israel are battles being fought all over Syria. The only difference is that these battles we can see with our own eyes, live.”And indeed, the forces fighting against Assad’s regime are not cast from the same mold. In my conversation with him, the commander of the southern territory forces of the Free Syrian Army asked Israeli citizens not to be fooled by unreliable and simplistic reports that call them all “rebels”. Al-Qaeda’s people, he says, certainly do not fit this definition. “They enter Syria from Iraq and take part in the fighting in western Syria. We are fighting to keep them in there, and sometimes also wage direct battles against them.”
“I prefer to keep my soldiers’ strength for the war against the regime, but strong al-Qaeda cells inside Syria is a very serious problem – it is more difficult for us than for you in Israel. They seem to keep multiplying, and therefore you need an entity that will balance the Saudi and Qatari intervention that only strengthens the extremist side in Syria. This intervention will lead to the regime’s defeat, but will also lead Syria into a mess. Therefore, we ask that the West and Israel not stand aside, but help us build a Western country in the post Bashar Assad era.” If the regime in Damascus is in trouble, it will open a front on the border with Israel to redirect global attention. If the area heats up it can lead to a situation where Syrian soldiers come right up to the border fence with Israel with their hands raised, asking to surrender.”January will mark two years since the uprisings in Syria began. Throughout the entire time, Israel’s position has been consistent: let Syria solve its own problems and not to get involved. The Arab media have interpreted Israel’s lack of response as support for Assad’s regime. Some even called the Syrian president an Israeli spy. As evidence, they mentioned the quiet that has lasted for decades along the Israeli-Syrian border.“To say that Assad was good for Israel because he kept the peace in the Golan, is complete fallacy”, cries MK Ayoob Kara, the Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee. “For years Assad fought Israel through Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. The Syrian missiles were sent to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which was the executer of Syrian and Iranian policy. Those that agree that Assad’s regime has given us quiet in the northern Golan are perhaps correct in the short term, but you have to remember that Assad is the spearhead of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs in Tehran. So as long as Israel sits on the sidelines and does not get involved, it is actually playing into Iranian hands.”Kara and his personal assistant, Mendi Safadi, have been in constant contact with the resistance in Syria, out of the belief that Israel cannot stand on the sidelines. “From day one of the fighting I openly expressed my position. I think that staying indifferent about something so important, that will affect us directly, is a form of negligence. The shellings that happened last week threw Israel into internal Syrian affairs. The message we sent the Syrians has been received so far, but there’s no doubt that we are part of the game.”
MK Kara revealed that Israel sends
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