«Israel» Is Nervous About the Syria Ceasefire Deal
Local Editor
"Israeli" leaders are worried about the ceasefire deal in southern Syria signed last weekend between the US, Russia and Jordan. That's because the deal will allow Syrian allied forces to position themselves as close as 3.5 miles from the "Israeli" border in the Golan Heights. But they also think it sends an alarming signal about the Trump administration's policies.
The big picture: "Israeli" officials see the deal as a sign that the Trump administration is too eager to pull out of the Middle East, and not willing to back up its rhetoric about confronting Iran's negative regional behavior with action.
The back story: Since June, the "Israeli" entity has been following the negotiations between the US, Russia and Jordan on a deal to create de-escalation zones in southwest Syria - one of them on its northern border in the occupied Golan Heights.
The "Israeli" entity wasn't a party to the deal, but an "Israeli" team held numerous rounds of secret talks in Tel Aviv, Amman, Washington and Moscow with US, Russian and Jordanian officials to make sure that "Israeli" security interests were taken into consideration.
What worries "Israeli" officials is that the de-escalation zones doesn't push Syrian allied forces far enough from the border.
They say the entity wanted the de-escalation zone to be 25 miles wide minimum, but the map drawn by US, Russian and Jordanian diplomats only made this zone 13 miles wide - and in some areas, only 3.5 miles wide.
"Israeli" officials also say the deal doesn't define clearly how the deal will be upheld and monitored.
Another objection: While the deal generally refers to the need to withdraw all Syrian allied forces from the country, it does not define a timetable for doing that.
"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech Tuesday that Iran wants to create a permanent air, land and sea military presence in Syria. "We are not going to agree to that," he told a meeting of the Jewish Federation of North America's General Assembly in Los Angeles. "‘Israel' will work to stop this ... If we have to, we'll stand alone. Iran will not turn Syria into a military base against ‘Israel'."
The entity's War Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who spent two full days this week in the northern command and mainly on the Syrian border, said the "Israeli" military will maintain complete freedom of operations in Syria regardless of the ceasefire deal. He added: "Those who have yet to understand it, should understand it now."
Less publicly, "Israeli" officials admit they failed to convince Russia and the US to draft a deal that will address "Israeli" concerns more seriously. They are disappointed with the way the Trump administration handled the Syria deal.
"Israeli" officials say they had an ambivalent feeling about the talks with the White House and State Department. On the one hand, they think Israel and the US agree on the need to roll back Iranian presence in Syria. But on the other hand, they don't believe the Trump administration is willing to commit to any real action to enforce its position on the matter - or on any other issue in the region.
The only comfort "Israeli" officials have is that, while it doesn't want to take action itself, the Trump administration is giving "Israel" a "green light" to continue its military strikes against Hezbollah and Iran in Syria. "We will just have to take care of it on our own," an "Israeli" official said.
Source: Axios, Edited by website team
