«Israel» Deepening Involvement in Syria, Arming «7 Different Groups»
Local Editor
Throughout the course of the Syrian conflict, the "Israeli" entity said it has been alienating itself from the war that has torn apart the country.
However, in the light of the Syrian government and its allies' advances, as well as the US' reduced involvement in the region, the "Israeli" entity has been forced to make significant changes in its policies in the occupied Golan Heights.
The Syrian government, which has gained the upper hand in the war, is now focusing on attacking militant enclaves east of Damascus and in the northern Idlib province. But it is also gradually bolstering its presence in southern Syria, including in the Syrian Golan Heights. And accordingly, the entity is altering its deployment to prepare for what's to come.
"Israeli" tension has been mounting since the approval of the de-escalation agreement, for southern Syria, which the US, Russia and Jordan signed last November, which included a promise to keep Iran away from the "Israeli" entity's border.
However, the "Israeli" desire to keep Iranians and their allies almost 60 kilometers from the frontier, east of the Damascus-Daraa road, hadn't been granted, causing anxiety amidst the "Israeli" entity that Hezbollah or the Iranians will be allowed to come to within 20 kilometers of the entity's border.
In the light if these developments, the scope of the "Israeli" entity's involvement in southern Syria has changed in recent months in response to the Syrian government's successes in the war and Iran's consolidation in Syria.
According to foreign media reports, over the past few months the entity has begun carrying out airstrikes against Syrian army facilities and targets linked to Iran and Hezbollah.
Analyst Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has followed events in Syria closely for the last several years and has interviewed many militiamen and residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, published a detailed survey of developments in southern Syria in the War on the Rocks blog last week.
Dozens of militants who spoke with Tsurkov described a significant change in the amount of aid they receive from the "Israeli" entity. Moreover, she said at least seven Sunni militant organizations in the occupied Syrian Golan are now getting arms and ammunition from the entity, along with money to buy additional armaments.
To be clear, no specific factions are named in any of these reports, but past reports have put the "Israeli" entity on the side of some very unfashionable groups, like al-Qaeda's Nusra Front, which have been active in the area for some time.
This change has taken place at a time when the US has greatly reduced its involvement in southern Syria. In January, the Trump administration closed the operations center the CIA ran in Amman, the Jordanian capital, which coordinated aid to militant organizations in southern Syria. As a result, tens of thousands of militants who received regular economic support from the US have been bereft of this support.
Tsurkov said these "Israeli" moves are intended to help block the Syrian government's advance in the occupied Golan. Nevertheless, she wrote, there's an expectations gap between the two sides. The militants expect unlimited "Israeli" support, and some are even hoping for help in their efforts to topple the government, while the entity's plans are much more modest, and are intended as a holding action.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
