" Israel’s neighbor is burning” is an Op-ed published in Haartez by Gideon Levy about what Israel can do to help its neighbor Syria and Syrian people. Levy knows very well that Israel can’t intervene directly because any action will unite the Syrian people against it “As if uniting the people of Syria was a bad thing , I stood in front of this phrase a lot t be honest”. This op-ed is very interesting on many levels because it made me think about the Israeli position in the Syrian crisis.
There is no doubt that Israel is worried about the future of its neighbor in the North , the Israelis do not want El Assad and his Pro-Iranian Hezbollah regime but they also do not want a radical Islamist rule or radical nationalist rule to replace El Baath rule especially with the rise of the Islamist powers in the region.
The Israeli military generals want to neutralize if not to weaken the Syrian Arab army , they will welcome something like the new Syrian army indeed with no rockets arsenal or air forces “like what happened in Libya”. You must know according to military experts El Assad has not yet used the full power or capacity with all the brutality we are witnessing .
The Free Syrian army is not yet a threat to Israel especially with weak weaponry and fragmentation but I bet with its current religious ideology shown crystal clear to the world the Israeli military think tanks are wondering if they are going to replace Baath Army with Sunni Islamist army.
Israel is worried despite I know politically the leaders of Israel are somehow welcome this indirect or rather direct confrontation between the Arabs or rather Sunni represented by Saudi Arabia and the Shiite represented by Iran in a battle field called Syria. I know that the IDF commanders are praying day and night that Hezbollah fully engaged in a fight with FSA and hopefully Arab armies so the Arabs and FSA would succeed in what they failed.
It is no longer revolution for the Syrians only but regional game of power.
The question is now does Iran really need Syria to maintain its power as well threat to Israel ? To be honest when I look back to history , I do not think so because if you look back in the 1980s , Hafiz El Assad was not the puppet of Iran like his son on the contrary this close bonding between Iran and Syria happened in the time of his son. During 1980s and 1990s Iran was a threat to Israel yet of course that its existence on the Israeli borders as in Hezbollah was not that powerful.
Despite the support of El Assad regime to Palestinian resistance groups and Hezbollah , the regime itself was not a real danger for Israel when it comes to restore the Golans whether through war or peace.
The Israelis should not be worried that the Syrian refugees will not knock the doors of the Israel nor the Syrian people will want a peace agreement except when they restore the Golan heights. Some Israeli writers claim in their columns that Sunni Syrians want peace with Israel , well the Syrian people regardless of their faith as I know and see want land for peace yet it is not their issue now. Removing El Assad regime from rule in Syria does not mean that Sunni Syrians are going to open their borders with Israel and have normal friendly relations with the Israelis.
I remember clearly the famous slogan the Syrians “Mostly from Sunni” chanted so strong throughout the past year whether inside Syria or outside it: “A lion in Daraa while a mouse in Golan”
Already sectarian rumors in social media among Arabs and Syrians from Sunni say that Israel will welcome El Assad regime and the Alawi sect to the country. It is worth to mention that for decades opponents of Hafiz El Assad stated that he sold Golan heights to the Israelis in direct treason accusation in 1967.
To be honest I read what happened on the 5th, 6th , 7th and 8th of June 1967 and what happened in Golan on the Syrian front was more than mysterious but was more disgusting than what happened in Egypt.
The SNC faced huge troubles and suspicion when some of its members turned to have some relations with Israel and these members had to leave it.
Already I do not know why some Israeli writers insist on using sectarian and singling out the Sunnis in Syria despite Syria is multi-ethnic sectarian nation for God sake that includes Christians, Shiites, Druze , Alawis and Jews. I do not understand also why some Israeli journalists believe that the Sunni Syrians are pro-Israeli or that Syrian revolution is Israeli friendly. Well they do not believe Israel is friend as they believe that the Israel is helping El Assad and the drones accident in Homs , in Baba Amr enforced this belief.
One thing for sure these claims or thoughts are taken by El Assad regime and used in his media whether in Syria or outside it to defame the revolution. El Assads used to the resistance and supporting Palestine against Israel game for decades to justify their dictatorship.
I do not think that this file will be opened any time soon and any Syrian politician smart enough will not go to the negotiations table or even support the decision of a military offensive like in 1973 to restore Golan through war when he is rebuilding a nation or a new republic in Syria logically speaking.
Back to the Israelis , well they have to be worried , it is logical and natural ; any respectable country that cares for national security will be worried for the future of its neighbor country especially if it has a long hostile wars with it. For God sake all us of are worried for the future of Syria , we should be worried for Syria.
And by the way Allah is great.
