Published in russia-insider.com
Israel is doing everything it can to provoke the Syrian Army and its allies
For the fifth time in eight days Israel has attacked the Syrian Army, allegedly in retaliation for shells that landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Again.
Israel’s air force has targeted a Syrian military position with an airstrike, after a projectile launched towards Israel landed in the Golan Heights, the Israel Defense Forces announced.
The announcement of the Israeli strike came just 45 minutes after the IDF said that an “errant projectile from internal fighting in Syria” had hit an open area in the Golan Heights, and that no injuries had been reported.
Al Masdar News reports that Israel also shelled Syrian positions – a refreshing change from the mundane and extremely illegal Israeli airstrikes:
Unlike their previous attacks, the Israeli Israeli military targeted the Syrian Arab Army with artillery shells that they fired at the town of Al-Samdaniyah Al-Sharqiyah.
This latest attack marks the fifth time in eight days that the Israeli military has purposely targeted the Syrian Arab Army and their allies in the Golan Heights region of Al-Quneitra.
In response to the projectile launched towards Israel from Syria, IAF aircraft targeted the Syrian military position that fired the mortar.
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 30, 2017
Let’s not beat around the bush: Israel wants a weak, fragmented Syria. Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon even stated that Israel would prefer that ISIS was in control of Syria than Iranian proxies.
But ISIS’ demise has allowed Israel to use the horror of “Iranian proxies” as an excuse to establish buffer zones inside Syrian territory to protect the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the pesky Iranians.
In the meantime, Israel’s deputy minister for diplomacy Michael Oren claims that “there is no Syria to negotiate with”, meaning that Israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan should be recognized by the international community.
Israel will continue to bomb and shell Syria with impunity. At this point, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Even without the Syrian Army defending itself from Israeli attacks, Israel’s buffer zone already runs roughly 6 miles deep and 12 miles long beyond the demarcation line of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Israelis are dreaming of an excuse to expand this zone, which would nearly guarantee that occupied-Golan would remain firmly in Israel’s control.
Also, you can bet that any retaliatory measures taken against Israeli acts of aggression would also be used by Washington to justify escalation in Syria. After all, the United States must help defend its close ally and the Only Democracy in the Middle East.
