The Wall Street Journal interviewed a Syrian rebel commander and other fighters, who confirmed the worst kept secret of the Syrian conflict: that Israel is directly aiding Syrian rebel factions with both humanitarian and financial aid: ...Interviews with half a dozen rebels and three people familiar with Israel’s thinking reveal that the country’s … [Read more...]
Syrian Killed in Attack by Golani Druze Was Islamist Fighter, Not Civilian as IDF Claimed
This post expands on my original one reporting this incident. Some of the material in it may look familiar to those who read the original post. This one names, for the first time outside of Arabic media, Munther Khalil, the Syrian Islamist killed by Golani Druze this week. It also confirms that the IDF lied in claiming he was a civilian. When Israel … [Read more...]
Israel’s Dangerous Game with Syrian Islamists
Recently, Israeli TV aired an interview (Hebrew, at the 2:00 mark) with a wounded Syrian fighter who was treated in Israel after being evacuated from the combat zone. As I, and many other journalists have reported, Israel, despite the false claim of neutrality in the civil war, has frequently intervened in the conflict on behalf of forces opposed to Bashar … [Read more...]
IDF Takes Control (Tacitly) of Syrian Golan
Earlier in my reporting on the Syrian civil war, I sketched out what I thought was Israel's strategy in containing or managing the conflict there. In the past, Israel had learned to live with a Syria governed by a strongman-authoritarian system (the Assad family). It enjoyed the same relationship with Egypt's Mubarak and Jordan's Hussein-Abdullah dynasty. … [Read more...]