The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that it was deploying additional ground and air forces on the border with Syria as jihadist rebels continued their rapid advance, spurring fears that the Assad regime could collapse, bringing further uncertainty to the war-battered region.
The move came as the rebels appeared set to drive regime-aligned forces out of Homs, the country’s third-largest city. Jerusalem is reportedly preparing for the possibility that the Syrian army could collapse in the face of the lighting progress by the anti-government forces.
“The IDF is following the events and is prepared for any scenario in attack and defense,” the military said, adding that it “will not allow a threat near Israel’s border, and will work to thwart any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”In a video released by the IDF, troops could be seen fortifying a barrier along the border with Syria with bulldozers digging anti-tank trenches along the frontier.
The statement followed fresh assessments held on Thursday by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the head of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin.
Halevi also met with Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday and Friday. The Defense Ministry said Katz had “instructed the IDF to maintain a high level of readiness and continue to monitor the developments.”
An official cited by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid said the security cabinet will hold two meetings on the unfolding conflict in Syria, on Saturday evening and Sunday evening.
In a sign of the scope of Israel’s concerns over the implications of the possible fall of the Assad regime, Channel 12 reported Friday that the Israeli Air Force had recently hit Syrian strategic weapons stores, including caches of chemical weapons, fearing they could fall into the hands of the jihadists.
The network cited “foreign reports,” though no such reports appear to exist, indicating that the citation was a tactic by the network to get around Israel’s military censor.
Earlier this week, the Haaretz daily reported that the Israeli military fears that amid the Syrian rebel assault and their taking over of military sites belonging to the Assad regime in the country, chemical weapons could fall into the wrong hands.
If such weapons fall into the hands of the rebels or Iranian-backed militias, Israel would have to act in a way that “may affect Syria and the entire Middle East,” according to Haaretz.
Iranian support
The newspaper report added that Israel had recently conveyed messages to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, via Russia, demanding that he “uphold his sovereignty and not allow Iran to operate in his territory.”
Iran, along with its ally Russia, supports the Assad regime. Syria serves as a throughway for Iran to send its weapons to its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, another Assad ally.
At a meeting in Baghdad Friday with his Syrian and Iraqi counterparts, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged to provide Syria with all the support it needed. Fuad Hussein, the Iraqi foreign minister, also condemned the “terrorist entities” fighting Assad.
No comments:
Post a Comment