Damascus has accused Israel of killing a former member of Syria’s parliament with a sniper firing from across the border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Medhat al-Saleh was gunned down in Ain al-Tinah, a Syrian village that overlooks Majdal Shams, a town on the Israeli side of the Golan. Al-Saleh was a Syrian Druze who was born on the Israeli side of the border.
After being jailed multiple times by Israeli authorities, including a 12-year sentence, al-Saleh moved to Syria and was elected to parliament in 1998.
After leaving parliament, al-Saleh was appointed as a government advisor for the Golan Heights. According to SANA, al-Saleh was the head of Syrian Golan Affairs and was killed Saturday “when the Israeli enemy targeted him.”
Israel’s military has not commented on the matter, but that is usually the case when it comes to Israeli operations inside Syria. Israel is constantly bombing Syria, and Israeli officials rarely acknowledge the strikes.
Israeli media portrayed al-Saleh as being linked to Iran, but people who knew him are disputing the claim. According to The Associated Press, Samih Ayoub, a resident on the Israeli side of the Golan, said al-Saleh had “no connection” to Iran or any militia groups. “He’s just a quiet man who works in an office. They killed him next to his house,” he said.
The Golan Heights was captured from Syria by Israel in 1967. In 1981, Israel formally annexed the territory, a move that was not internationally recognized. In 2019, the Trump administration made the US the first country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, and the Biden administration has no plans to reverse the recognition.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reaffirmed Israel’s stance that the Golan Heights is Israeli territory. He announced a plan to quadruple the population of the Golan Heights to tighten Israel’s grip on the territory.
Was he riding in a Lincoln convertible ?
Right, …Mossad/CIA/FBI, …Murder Inc.
Progress is noted. No mention of the Middle East’s only “democracy.” Somewhat dispelled the lie that the victim was “Iranian-backed.” No explaining such as “look at what you made me do,” but no condemnation or outrage either. After reading this article, would you conclude this act is terrorism or 007-style action? The MSM would celebrate this criminal act as 007-style hero action by “the Middle East’s only democracy,” which has “the right to defend” itself against “Iran’s aggression” because the world fails to hold it “accountable.”
Yes, …like the murder of Anwar al Alaki & child, or Osama, … but, a tad harsh on Dave DeCamp. Not his job to interject his personal moral assessments. As you advert, that’s the speciality of our MSM “journalists’ and bourgeois culture industry.
I give feedback to remind folks that this is the antiwar.com website. If articles in this space are sanitized to the point of not calling out the illegality of an assassination across a border, then we are doomed.
The only basis for a lasting peace is UN Resolution 181. Those remain the only internationally recognized boundries of the 2 states.
“Israeli media portrayed al-Saleh as being linked to Iran, but people who knew him are disputing the claim.”
How is being “linked” to another country justification for murder? They don’t even have to come up with a half-assed excuse anymore. Are all Iranians fair game? The international community should be outraged.
If the man was up to terrorism, then he got what he deserved.
And who decided they were judge, jury and executioner?
bibi a perfect target by your own justification.
This won’t stop until high ranking Israelis are killed in retaliation.
That tit-for-tat rule is how the US and USSR controlled the assassination risks of the Cold War. Each did not target the other, because each knew the costs. It is the only thing that works with people like the KGB or CIA.
Bennett says that Israel wants to quadruple the population of the Golan Heights. Rule 130 of the Geneva Convention makes this illegal. But when did Israel or the US ever care about that…
Another “terrorist act” by the world’s biggest instigator of terrorism.
What to make re the narrative of surrounding Middle East nations resuming trade and diplomatic ties with Syria while it’s simultaneously attacked by Israel nearly daily.
Moral consistency might call for those nations to BDS Israel–permanently.
Indispensable US Diplomat: “‘Moral Consistency?’ …Never heard of it.”