Will the West Cede the Golan Heights to a Psychopath?: Moshe Ya’alon and Yair Lapid, Times of Israel, July 1, 2018— We live in a world full of complex diplomatic dilemmas…
Syrian Refugees: Editorial, Jerusalem Post, July 1, 2018— After some seven years of carefully avoiding being dragged into the Syrian civil war, Israel is now facing a unique moral, diplomatic and military challenge.
Russia in Syria: Caught Between Iran and Israel: Emil Avdaliani, BESA, June 24, 2018— Over the past several months, one of the Kremlin’s major concerns has been the extent to which Israel will continue to carry out preventive strikes on Syrian soil.
Iran’s Endgame in Syria has Begun: Yochanan Visser, Arutz Sheva, June 21, 2018 — Iran’s attempts to build a permanent military infrastructure in Syria continue, while Israel extended its operations against the Iranian axis in Syria all the way to the Iraqi border this week.
On Topic Links
Report: Israel Attacked Weapon Depots Belonging to Assad Regime, Militias: Yasser Okbi, Jerusalem Post, July 3, 2018
US Interests Require Israel on the Golan Heights: Yoram Ettinger, Jewish Press, June 18, 2018
Amid Assad Regime Offensive in Southwest Syria, Israeli Military Bolsters Forces on Golan Heights: Algemeiner, July 1, 2018
WATCH: Israel Brings Aid to Syrian Refugees, But Will Not Grant Entry: World Israel News, July 3, 2018
WILL THE WEST CEDE THE GOLAN HEIGHTS TO A PSYCHOPATH?
Moshe Ya’alon and Yair Lapid
Times of Israel, July 1, 2018
We live in a world full of complex diplomatic dilemmas, but for once here is a simple one: Would you take an area that is flourishing in a western democratic state, where fifty thousand people of different religions and ethnicities live in harmony, and hand it over to a violent dictatorship ruled by the worst mass murderer of our time so that he can destroy the area and murder most of the residents? If your answer is “no” then you support recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
In 1981 Israel applied its law to the Golan Heights. The Syrians insisted it be returned to them. Most countries, including the United States, have avoided taking a clear position. We believe it’s time to get off the fence. The Golan Heights is a unique story in the Israeli-Arab conflict. It’s a mountainous region of around 695 square miles (around the size of a medium-sized ranch in Texas), in the north of Israel. It’s worth noting, of course, that it is entirely unrelated to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Not a single Palestinian lives in the Golan Heights.
Historically, the Golan is known as the biblical land of Bashan from the book of Deuteronomy. Just recently a major renovation of a 4th century Jewish synagogue was completed and in archaeological excavations a coin from 67 CE was discovered with an inscription which read, “For the redemption of Jerusalem the Holy.” It is an area with a long and deep Jewish connection.
The Syrians, on the other hand, ruled over the Golan Heights for only 21 years; between the years 1946 and 1967. During those years they turned the Golan into a military base, rained rocket fire on the Israeli communities which are under the Golan Heights and tried to divert Israel’s critical water sources to dry the country out.
In 1967, during the Six Day War, the Golan Heights was liberated by Israel. In the 51 years since then Israel developed the Golan Heights and turned it into an impressive center of nature reserves and tourism, with high-tech agriculture, award winning wines, a flourishing food-tech industry and in-demand boutique hotels. The Druze population of the Golan Heights, who make up about half the population, were granted all the same rights as any other citizen in Israel, as would be done in any genuine democracy.
On the other side of the border, life went in the other direction; in the past seven years President Assad has massacred over a half a million of his own people and his actions led to the displacement of 11 million more. He let the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, the largest terror organizations in the world, into Syria. He encouraged Shia militias from Iraq and elsewhere to flood into Syria. It is a dark regime led by a psychopath supported by the most malevolent forces on earth today.
The man who didn’t hesitate to use chemical weapons against women and children, continued to demand the Golan Heights in the name of “international law.” The fact that anyone in the Western world still takes that argument seriously is worse than naivete – it is insanity. Does his monstrous behavior have no cost? Do we live in the world without any sense of reward and punishment? The fact that the Golan Heights is under Israeli rule is the only thing that saved it from the Syrian valley of death, which is collapsing under the weight of violence and destruction.
The international community, led by the United States, needs to do the simple thing: To announce that they see the world as it is. We call on the American administration and both parties – Republicans and Democrats – to lead an international process of recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. It is historically just, it is strategically smart and it will allow the United States to extract a price from Assad for his despicable behavior without putting boots on the ground in Syria.
SYRIAN REFUGEES
Editorial
Jerusalem Post, July 1, 2018
After some seven years of carefully avoiding being dragged into the Syrian civil war, Israel is now facing a unique moral, diplomatic and military challenge. As the army of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, backed by Iranian Shi’ite militias and Hezbollah, is bombarding the areas around Deraa and Quneitra in an attempt at retaking them from rebel forces, there is an intensifying internal refugee crisis. Syrian homeless have gathered close to the border with Israel. As their numbers grow, there are increased calls for Israel to allow some of the refugees into the country.
Whenever Israelis think of the refugee issue, they are reminded, with pride, of how Menachem Begin offered a home to some 300 Vietnamese “Boat People” in the late 1970s. As Israelis we also recall our people’s experience during and immediately following the Holocaust, when few countries offered refuge to the Jews and the British mandate turned away or incarcerated survivors who struggled to reach a safe haven on these shores.
The issue obviously is an emotional one – but allowing emotions to dictate policy is dangerous. It should be emphasized and praised that Israel, far from ignoring the needs of the Syrian refugees, has been helping them for several years now. Since 2013, nearly 5,000 Syrian patients have received medical treatment – at Israeli taxpayers’ expense – in Israeli hospitals and field hospitals. Indeed, hospitals in the North – facing a crisis in finances, space and resources – continue to offer the best care possible to the Syrians they treat.
On June 30, six more Syrian patients, including four children, were transferred for care to Israeli hospitals, several suffering from severe wounds including head wounds and stomach injuries sustained in the intensive shelling. Israel also continues to provide aid and assistance to the Syrians just over the border, whether living in villages or makeshift camps. Indeed, as The Jerusalem Post’s military affairs reporter Anna Ahronheim noted, this humanitarian aid, in recent days alone, has consisted of providing some 300 tents for shelter; 13 tons of food; 15 tons of baby food; three palettes of medical equipment and medicines; and 30 tons of clothing and footwear. The aid was transferred by the IDF to four different locations across the border in a special operation.
While providing such assistance, Israel and the IDF have so far done everything possible to prevent a massive influx of Syrian refugees – and there seems little likelihood that this policy will be changed. Israel has stated in the past that it would protect the Druse population in the Syrian villages close to the border, many of whom have close family ties with Druse living on the Israeli Golan Heights. But the refugees now gathering close to the border are Sunni Muslims, not Druse.
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Regarding southern Syria, we will continue to defend our borders. We will extend humanitarian assistance to the extent of our abilities. We will not allow entry [of refugees] into our territory and we will demand that the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement with the Syrian army be strictly upheld.” While this policy makes sense, Israel will have to carefully gauge the situation as it develops. As Israelis, as Jews and as human beings, we have a moral obligation to help. The question of allowing refugees into the country is not a simple matter; it needs to be considered with great care and sensitivity.
At the same time though, we cannot forget that the Syrian civil war is not a problem for Israel to solve. Both the US and Russia need to play a central role in dealing with the challenges they themselves have helped create: the US by leaving a vacuum and Russia by filling it. It is ultimately their responsibility to ensure that the areas where the refugees have gathered are safe from shelling and to help them rebuild their homes inside Syria. Israel’s responsibility is to be moral and ethical but also not to be reckless.
RUSSIA IN SYRIA: CAUGHT BETWEEN IRAN AND ISRAEL
Emil Avdaliani
BESA, June 24, 2018
Over the past several months, one of the Kremlin’s major concerns has been the extent to which Israel will continue to carry out preventive strikes on Syrian soil. On February 10, an armed Iranian drone was shot down over Israeli airspace prompting a swift and devastating Israeli response. Two months later, on April 9, Israeli jets struck again, bombing the T4 base and killing 14 personnel – including at least seven IRGC troops. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called this a “very dangerous development.”
These incidents suggest that an Israeli-Syrian (by extension Iranian) military engagement could evolve into a serious situation that could spin out of Russia’s control. This is worrisome to Moscow as it is keen to keep the balance in Syria. How, then, might Russia respond as tensions escalate between Iran and Israel on Syrian ground?
For Moscow, alienating Jerusalem around the Syrian battlefield would be an unfortunate development. Russia is attempting to maintain a dominant position in Syria after having gained important victories. Achieving this grows more difficult as the Syrian battlefield becomes more crowded. The US is unlikely to withdraw its military forces. The Turks are operating in Afrin, in the north of the country. Powerful Iranian proxy forces are currently close to the Israeli border, and little success has been achieved at recent peace conferences. The last thing Russia wants is to have Israel drawn into the conflict militarily.
This could explain why Russia has conceded several crucial points regarding Israel’s security. Consider, for instance, what occurred after the US and its allies shot cruise missiles into Syria on April 14. Initially, Moscow responded by proposing the resumption of delivery of advanced S-300 air-defense missiles to Damascus, a supply that had been suspended in 2013 because of Israeli opposition. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that in view of the strikes by the western allies, Russia no longer had any moral obligation to refrain from transferring the missiles to Syria. Russia’s prominent daily Kommersant quoted unnamed military sources as saying deliveries might begin imminently.
However, following the Israeli PM’s visit to Russia in early May for Victory Day festivities, another prominent Russia daily, Izvestia, quoted top Kremlin aide Vladimir Kozhin as saying that Moscow was not in talks with the Syrian government about supplying S-300 ground-to-air missiles. Moreover, on May 31, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Moscow. Numerous Kremlin-linked Russian analysts claimed that a deal had been reached whereby Iran would pull its forces from the Israeli-Syrian border. If true, this is an apparent U-turn by the Russian government.
Another consideration for Moscow might be the hints that occasionally appear in the Russian media from defense and political sources that if Iran attacks Israel from Syria, either by itself or through its proxy Hezbollah, Israel will not hold back. It will respond forcefully, targeting Iranian soil.
On a global level, there is a hypothetical possibility that Russia might be a potential mediator between Iran and Israel. It would be a grand diplomatic coup to show the world that peace between two such bitter archrivals hinges upon Moscow. The Kremlin does appear to be considering this possibility, judging from numerous recent suggestions in the Russian media. Moreover, as Vladimir Putin has been largely left out of the potentially historic developments on the Korean Peninsula, the Kremlin might be seeking a means of playing power broker in the Middle East.
Russia’s concessions to Israeli interests in Syria do not preclude a further strengthening of the Iran-Russia partnership. There are many new sticking points for both countries. The American withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement put Russia and the European countries on the same side against the possible breakdown of the agreement. Shared opposition to US pressure makes Moscow and Tehran more than just allies of convenience. It is this that makes Russia’s position in the nascent Iran-Israel confrontation in Syria tricky. Both Russia and Iran seek to balance the unstable geopolitical situation in and around Syria. As the Syrian conflict is still going on, it is extremely difficult to forecast a scenario, even for a short period.
A couple of things are clear, though. The Russians understand that in view of Israel’s security imperatives, intermittent Israeli intervention is going to take place. They also know that Israel will almost certainly have to respond again, even if the Golan Heights are not directly threatened. The Iranians, on the other hand, are unlikely to make concessions in Syria due to their geopolitical imperatives and military interests. These different perspectives are bound to clash from time to time. Russia has to perform a difficult balancing act between Israel and Iran as it tries to position itself as the primary player in mitigating conflict between the two geopolitical enemies.
IRAN’S ENDGAME IN SYRIA HAS BEGUN
Yochanan Visser
Arutz Sheva, June 21, 2018
Iran’s attempts to build a permanent military infrastructure in Syria continue, while Israel extended its operations against the Iranian axis in Syria all the way to the Iraqi border this week. At the same time, the Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition finally launched the long anticipated offensive against rebel groups along the Jordanian and Israeli border, despite Israeli and American warnings that this could lead to a confrontation with the two staunch allies.
On Monday, the Israeli air force carried out a devastating attack on the Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah militia which has set up a base across the Iraqi border in Syria. Israeli warplanes reportedly struck Kata’ib Hezbollah in the Al-Hari military base near the town of Qaim in the vicinity of the Albu Kamal border crossing, killing 52 members of the Iraqi militia which is an important member of the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi umbrella organization of predominantly Shiite militias in Iraq.
Kata’ib Hezbollah is now part of a 80,000 members-strong Shiite fighting force in Syria which takes its orders from Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the shrewd commander of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Iraqi militia has been more than instrumental in the Iranian effort to establish a ‘Shiite Crescent’ – territorial contiguity from the Iranian border in Iraq to the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. It was responsible for many lethal attacks against U.S. forces and the Sunni population in Iraq.
At the end of last year, Kata’ib Hezbollah threatened the U.S. led coalition in Iraq and said it would “fight the American occupiers” this after it cooperated with the coalition in the fight against the common enemy, Islamic State. The ruthless Shiite terror group was together with its offshoot Harakat al Nujaba, or Movement of the Noble, responsible for the establishment of the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’ which was founded in March 2017 with the explicit goal of ‘liberating Palestine’.
The IDF refused to comment on the attack on Kata’ib Hezbollah, but a US official confirmed Israel was responsible for the attack on the Iranian proxy in Syria. On Tuesday night, the Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition also made good on its promise, ‘liberating’ every inch of Syrian soil and starting a long anticipated offensive against Western-backed rebels in the Daraa province in southern Syria.
Syrian Special Forces attacked towns near the Jordanian border with more than 130 artillery shells and missiles, while Hezbollah drove a wedge in the rebel’ defenses in the so-called ‘Triangle of Death’, the region stretching from the border between Daraa and Kuneitra and the west Damascus countryside.
The Lebanese terror group reportedly used napalm to drive the rebels out of the Triangle of Death, while the now united rebel groups operating under the name “Southern Front” reacted by attacking a large convoy of the pro-Assad coalition in western Daraa.
The Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition exploited the disagreement over Iran’s encroachment on the Jordanian and Israeli border between Russia on one hand and the United States, Great Britain and Israel on the other hand, to start the assault on the mostly Sunni Islamist rebels along the border. The Syrian Observer reported on Thursday that the Russians are the ones in charge of the military operations in Daraa. This doesn’t mean Israel will remain passive. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has used his leverage in the relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to prevent the approaching Iranian axis from taking over the region along the Syrian border on the Golan Heights, but it remains to be seen if his efforts will bear fruit.
The Russians have called upon ‘foreign troops’ – including the Iranians – to leave Syrian soil now the war against ISIS is almost over. The Iranians, however, have made it clear they have no intention of heeding that call and have vowed to stay in Syria as long as their Syrian lackey Bashar al-Assad wants them to stay. The only thing that has changed in the Iranian advance toward the realization of the final stretch of the land bridge from the Iranian border in Iraq to the Israeli border on the Golan Heights is the change of uniforms.
About 500 Hezbollah terrorists and members of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria are now wearing uniforms of the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces, a special unit which specializes in urban warfare and counter-terrorism operations. They are now charged with the ‘liberation’ of the Kuneitra region along the Israeli border.
The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, reacted to the worrisome situation near Israel’s border by issuing a statement which said it was “deeply troubled by reports of increasing Syrian regime operations in southwest Syria”. The State Department also warned the Russians and the Assad regime again of “serious repercussions” of the violations of the so-called de-escalation agreement between the U.S., Jordan and Russia which was meant to retain the status quo along the Syrian border with Jordan and Israel.
An attempt by the Iranian axis to take over the region along the Israeli border on the Golan Heights will almost certainly draw a military response by the IDF and could risk a spillover of the Syrian conflict into Israel.
On Topic Links
Report: Israel Attacked Weapon Depots Belonging to Assad Regime, Militias: Yasser Okbi, Jerusalem Post, July 3, 2018
—Large explosions were heard in the Deraa district of south Syria on Tuesday in an area in which ammunition warehouses belonging to the Assad regime and pro-Assad militias are located, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
US Interests Require Israel on the Golan Heights: Yoram Ettinger, Jewish Press, June 18, 2018—US interests in the Middle East and beyond are well-served by a strategically constrained Syria. Historically, Syria has been a tectonic, volatile platform of violent, intolerant and unpredictable Arab/Islamic regional aspirations of grandeur, totally unrelated to Israel’s existence and policies.
Amid Assad Regime Offensive in Southwest Syria, Israeli Military Bolsters Forces on Golan Heights: Algemeiner, July 1, 2018—In light of ongoing developments across the border in Syria, the Israeli military has bolstered its presence on the Golan Heights, with the deployment of armor and artillery reinforcements.
WATCH: Israel Brings Aid to Syrian Refugees, But Will Not Grant Entry: World Israel News, July 3, 2018—While the IDF will provide much-needed aid to Syrians on the border fleeing violence from the civil war, Israel has made it clear no refugees will be granted entry.
