Former Israeli military intelligence officer Lt. Mordechai Kedar has added fuel to claims that Israel has ties with the Syrian Islamist fighters who have taken the city of Aleppo and surrounding area in the past week. Lt. Kedar says he is in “constant contact” with the Islamists and that they “do not consider Israel an enemy.”
The talk of Israeli complicity with the Islamist offensive began virtually when the offensive started attracting attention. On Saturday the Syrian Army issued a statement saying that they are effectively fighting “the military arm of the Israeli enemy, falsely labeled as the ‘Syrian revolution.’”
This is a particularly dramatic claim because the Islamists are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was formed by the merger of various Islamist organizations built around Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. Indeed, the former Syrian al-Qaeda leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani is the present leader of HTS.
But Lt. Kedar offers considerable detail about the ties with the HTS, however, referring to them as “Syrian revolutionaries” and insisting that they “must be supported.” Israel sees them as having a common interest in regime change in Syria.
That doesn’t stop at the Syrian border either. The Islamists reportedly told Lt. Kedar that they are ready for a peace deal with Israel after they take over all of Syria and Lebanon. They also said they plan to open Israeli embassies in both Damascus and Beirut.
How far the contact goes right now isn’t totally clear, but Lt. Kedar did say that he recently passed a “detailed” list of requested items from the Islamist forces to the Israeli government. He didn’t say what items were requested.
That’s not an unprecedented occurrence, however. Former Israeli Army Chief Gabi Eisenkot acknowledged in 2019 that Israel had supplied weapons to the Syrian Islamists, including the Nusra Front, which later former HTS.
The Syrian opposition were suggesting shared interests with Israel as far back as 2014, with the founder of the Liberal Democratic Union party urging Syrians to “collaborate” with Israel. At the time though, he identified the enemy not just as Iran and their allies, but included al-Qaeda. Now, al-Qaeda’s remnants more or less are the opposition looking to collaborate with Israel.
Around that time, Israelis officials were acknowledging that, despite a claim of neutrality in the Syrian Civil War, preferred to see ISIS taking over Syria than the pro-Iran government remaining in power.
All this new talk of sending equipment to HTS is only going to add to the view that the group is in league with Israeli aggression in the region. The timing of the HTS adds to that, since Israel spent much of early November attacking Syria on a near daily basis.
On top of the Israeli airstrikes, Shin Bet Chief Ronan Bar reportedly made a clandestine visit to Turkey in mid-November to meet with Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin. What they discussed wasn’t confirmed, but since Turkey is said to be directing in great measures the HTS-led offensive, which includes many of the Turkish backed rebel factions participating in the fighting, it seems likely that the Syria offensive was at least brought up in the conversation.
Israel isn’t overtly allied with the HTS, at least not right now. At this point, however, Israel’s pretense of neutrality in Syria is slipping, and they are more than just two unaffiliated combatants that happen to have some common agendas.
