Israeli officials are refusing to comment publicly on the matter, but anonymously they concede that they are watching with “concern” as the international community continues to arm Syria’s rebel factions.
The sense is that even though officially Western nations are being “careful” about their shipments, once they are inside Syria they could just as easily end up in the hands of Islamist factions who are as liable to attack Israel as they are Syria’s government forces.
Indeed, US officials have conceded that a desire to protect Israel is a big part of their own reticence to send weapons to the rebels. Somehow, this didn’t stop the US from facilitating other nations’ arms shipments, however.
Rebels have been complaining that the US not sending more weapons is the real reason they haven’t won the war yet, and Israeli officials are quietly concerned at getting sucked into that blame game, either seen as an endorser of the Syrian rebels or an obstacle to giving them ridiculous amounts of advanced arms.
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