תמלול הכתבה: תיקון עולם – על התקיפה הישראלית בסוריה
Israeli Intelligence’s Smoke and Mirrors Regarding the Syria Attack
Earlier this week, Israel’s air force attacked Syria. The target was a convoy carrying a Russian-built anti-aircraft system to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Israel felt especially threatened by this because it considers Lebanon in its sphere of influence and wants no interference with its right to roam the air freely there. It demands the right to surveil Hezbollah forces and facilities to probe for threats against Israeli forces.
On Friday, a U.S. source told the New York Times the claim by the Syrian government that one of its "research facilities" was bombed was true. Israel attacked at least two targets that day, perhaps more. The plant made chemical and biological weapons used by the Assad regime.
What sort of environmental damage was caused to the surrounding countryside by bombing, incinerating or vaporizing of these weapons? They could easily escape into the air or water and poison everything for miles around. Doubtless in Israel’s calculation, it would rather risk the lives of Syrian neighbors of the plant than Israelis.
Was Israel worried that the materials there might be used by Assad or was it was worried that Islamist resistance fighters might gain access to them and spirit them out of the country for use by Al Qaeda against western targets or Israel?
This isn’t the first such attack on Syria. In 2007, Ehud Olmert's government destroyed a reputed Syrian nuclear reactor. But the latest incident is far different because in the middle of the Syrian civil war, any intervention by anyone could create a fatal fracture and precipitate even more bloodshed.
The attack on Syria was preceded earlier in the week by a strange story that was peddled by Israeli intelligence which claimed a joint Israeli-U.S.-MEK team sabotaged Iran’s advanced Fordo nuclear plant. Even I was taken in by the charade and published this story. Other journalists did too.
We were wrong. But only after Israel attacked Syria did I find out why. The Israeli source who first reported to me the incident at Fordo told me a true story that Bibi Netanyahu held an unusual cabinet meeting that included all the military and intelligence brass. Haaretz reported correctly that this meeting dealt with the situation in Syria.
But my source offered me a smokescreen, telling me that wasn’t the real subject of the meeting. In reality, he claimed it celebrated the successful attack against Fordo.
But the real smokescreen was the Fordo bombing, which was a fake. Israeli intelligence realized that there was a lot of chatter in the media with Israeli leaders and generals discussing the Syrian threat. They wanted to divert the attention of the Syrians and their allies Russia, Iran and Hezbollah so the attack would take them by surprise. This little feint diverted the world’s attention for a day or two. Long enough for Israel to spring its attack on an unsuspecting Syria.
A few days ago Haaretz’s website ran a lead headline, Israel Enters Syrian Civil War. If that is the case it can only be a bad omen. Intervention is a slippery slope toward chaos. Indeed, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah each denounced Israel’s violation of Syrian sovereignty with Iran even swearing vengeance against Israel.
Israeli military strategists still do not understand that they are no longer living in an era when they have complete freedom of action. Intervention in Syria’s civil war carries a price. The question is how great that price will be.
Retired Israeli intelligence officers are telling western media that Israel’s elimination of the WMD threat in Syria isn’t just done on its own behalf, but on behalf of the entire western world. This is nonsense. Israel doesn’t work that way. It’s not engaged in altruism when it wipes out Syrian military sites. It’s pursuing solely its own interests. Or what it perceives to be its own interests.
But these calculations are purely short term. They don’t take into account that the more involved Israel becomes in Syria’s civil war, the more dangerous it becomes, the more it helps the most radical of the Islamist fighting against Assad. If Syria after Assad becomes a radical Sunni state, at least part of the reason will be what Israel did last week.
סוף תמלול הכתבה: תיקון עולם – על התקיפה הישראלית בסוריה
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