Senior IDF officials do not trust the veracity of messages emanating from the new bosses in Damascus, led by the handsome, tall, bearded Ahmad al-Shara Abu, a.k.a. Muhammad al-Julani, formerly an operative of al-Qaeda.
In a confidential meeting held this week at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, two high-ranking Military Intelligence Service officers said that as far as they were concerned, al-Julani’s goodwill offensive was a show, and sooner or later the new regime would turn against Israel.
As the new regime in Syria is establishing its control on the country, at the same time, IDF soldiers have also been establishing themselves in Syria. IDF forces that entered the Syrian villages near the Israeli border, captured Mount Hermon, and took over abandoned Assad army outposts, are examining the new regime, and making sure that terrorist elements do not take advantage of the sensitive situation and harm the Golan communities.
“Our working assumption is that his attitude towards Israel is that of an enemy and that ultimately the rebel regime will be hostile toward us,” the intelligence officers told the committee.
Committee MKs told the officers that “Israel cannot accept a Nazi regime on its border that would lead to red alerts in Katzrin (Known as the Capital of the Golan – DI).”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told committee members, “Had we not destroyed the Syrian army’s weapons systems, they would have fallen into the hands of jihadist forces or, at the very least, brought a high price on the black market.”
Sa’ar added: “The new government in Damascus is a carbon copy of the government in Idlib; it does not include all the groups in Syria. There are extremist Islamists in this government. They market themselves to the West as moderates and Western countries have an interest in accepting their whitewashing because they want to return the refugees staying in their territories to Syria.
“In our political discourse, we reflect the true essence of this government. In the current state of uncertainty, we cannot move from the points we have captured in Syria. We must prevent the creation of a threat on our border with Syria. We have security demands that we cannot waive,” Sa’ar said.
The IDF currently occupies five areas in Syria: the border triangle in the southern plateau at the confluence of the Roked and Yarmouk rivers; Tel Qudna; Quneitra; the village of Khader; and the Syrian slopes of Mount Hermon. According to reports, Israel communicates with the Druze in Syria, who fear harm from the rebel organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. With their help, and with the help of other Syrians in the Golan Heights, the IDF is also working to collect personal weapons scattered in the villages of the area.
