BICOM

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) sent additional soldiers to the Golan Heights yesterday to prepare for any contingency that may arise as fighting intensifies in Southern Syria between the Assad regime and rebel forces.

Following a situation assessment meeting at the IDF’s Northern Command, additional tank and artillery personnel were deployed to the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting yesterday: “We are acting to prevent Iran and its proxies from entrenching themselves militarily in any part of Syria and we will continue to do that.”

“We will continue to defend our borders; we will offer humanitarian help to the best of our ability; we will not allow entry into our territory and we will demand that the 1974 armistice agreement with the Syrian army be meticulously upheld. I am in continuous contact with the White House and the Kremlin, and the defence minister is in similar contact with his counterparts in the United States and Russia,” he added.

Over the weekend Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu about the developments in southern Syria and Iran’s efforts to entrench itself there militarily. Israeli Chief of Staff Lt Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and his American counterpart Joseph Dunford also met in Washington to discuss the situation in Southern Syria.

Israeli analysts believe that the Syrian army’s strategy is to force the villages and towns in Southern Syria to surrender without a fight and to turn over their heavy weaponry in exchange for a commitment that the civilians will quickly be able to get on with their normal lives. In talks between Russian officers and the commanders of the rebel organisations (not including al-Qaida and the Islamists, otherwise known as the Nusra Front).

The Israeli security establishment believes that the Syrian army will regain control of the entire 100-kilometre-long border with Israel, from Hamat Gader in the south to Mt. Hermon in the north, within weeks.

On Friday, Israel sent humanitarian aid to four different sites for Syrian civilians who had fled from the combat zones and had taken shelter in tents on the Syrian side of the Golan border.