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Quneitra Capital of Golon, Syria has quite a history.
From Israel enforced depopulation and demolition into a ghost town in 1974, the specter of Quneitra arises again as haunted as ever...
Baal Land
'QUNEITRA, Syria — Since the start of the Syrian crisis,
the Syrian regime has routinely accused Israel of playing a hidden
role, from
Qusair in the Homs countryside in May 2013 to the emergence and advances of the
southern front
in September 2014. UN reports published in December appear to vindicate
the regime’s arguments that Israel is involved with the southern
rebels.
Summary⎙ Print
Syrian opposition activists in southern Syria say Israel has played a
vital role in Jabhat al-Nusra’s recent gains in Quneitra and Daraa.
Author Khaled Atallah Posted January 14, 2015
TranslatorJoelle El-Khoury
According to a
UN report covering the period from March
to May 2014, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
detected contact between rebels and the Israeli army
across the Golan cease-fire line, particularly during fierce clashes
between the Syrian army and the rebels. The report also confirmed that
the UN forces spotted rebels transporting 89 wounded across the
cease-fire line into the Israeli occupied zone, where they were handed
over 19 people who had received medical treatment in addition to two
dead. The
UN forces also noted that the Israeli army delivered two boxes
to rebels on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
Communications increased between rebels and the Israeli army before the eruption of the southern front in Daraa and Quneitra in September, according to Quneitra opposition activist Mohammad Qasim, a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Qasim, who was active in a support capacity to the rebels during the
September offensive, told Al-Monitor via Skype, “
The battle to capture
Quneitra on Sept. 27 was preceded by coordination and communications
between Abu Dardaa, a leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Israeli army to
pave the way for the attack. And according to an FSA commander who
partly participated in this battle, the Israeli army provided Abu Dardaa
with maps of the border area and the Syrian army’s strategic posts in
the southern area.”
The rebels’ battle, led by al-Qaeda’s affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, to
control the Quneitra crossing took place in coordination with the
Israeli army through Abu Dardaa, according to Qasim. He added,
“During
the clashes, the Israelis heavily bombarded many of the regime’s posts,
shot down a warplane that was trying to impede the progress of the
fighters and targeted other aircraft.”
The media reported that on Sept. 23, Israel
downed a MiG-21
Syrian military aircraft over the occupied Golan Heights during the
intensification of fighting between rebel fighters led by Jabhat
al-Nusra and the Syrian army.
Prior to this battle, Israel provided rebel fighters with
communication devices and medical equipment, according to Qasim. He also
said that the devices have improved communication among rebel fighters,
while the medical assistance helped equip four new makeshift hospitals
in Syria’s south and southwest.
Qasim added that Israel allowed the establishment of a
small Syrian refugee camp on the border in the occupied Golan Heights, saying, “The camp hosts
dozens of Syrian families,
which was confirmed by UN reports, and Israel is providing it with the
necessary humanitarian assistance. Rebel fighters — who frequently go to
the Israeli zone …, some of whom have crossed the border more than
three times a day — go to [this camp].”
On the transfer of Syrian wounded to the occupied Golan Heights,
Qasim explained, “Any fighter or civilian with severe injuries who
cannot be treated in our hospitals on the ground are immediately
transferred to the Israeli part of the occupied Golan, and there, he
will be transferred in a civilian ambulance accompanied by an Israeli
army patrol to a
hospital for treatment. Later on, the Israeli army will be contacted by the rebels to learn about the situation of the wounded there.”
The Syrian army in the area has also taken note of Israel’s
assistance to rebels. The forces of Gen. Rami al-Hasan are stationed at
the entrances of the town of Madinat al-Baath in Quneitra governorate.
Armored vehicles, tanks and dozens of checkpoints are scattered around
the city, which lies adjacent to rebel-controlled areas.
“The first outcomes of the cooperation between the Israeli army and
the gunmen took place in Quneitra, when they took control over the
border crossing.
Back then, Israel supported gunmen by providing them
with cover under the pretext of ‘shooting back,’ hindering any attempts
by the Syrian air force to intervene and bringing down one of our
planes. It has also provided gunmen with the necessary equipment to face
the fortifications of the Syrian army.”
Hasan added, “Israel wants to exert control over the entire Golan,
and contributed significantly to the intimidation of UN observers to
push them to withdraw from most of their positions.”
On Oct. 4, rebel fighters and
Jabhat al-Nusra captured Tal al-Hara in
the northwest Daraa countryside, which is adjacent to the countryside
of Quneitra. This significant victory could not have happened without
Israeli support, according to Daraa opposition activist Ghazwan
al-Hourani, also a pseudonym, who witnessed communication between
Jabhat al-Nusra and Israel.
“Israeli support in the battle of Tal al-Hara was at a high level,
and the Israeli army was the mastermind of this battle in terms of
plans, tactics and follow-up. The communication devices released precise
instructions in Arabic about what should be done by the fighters,
moment by moment,” he told Al-Monitor.
Dozens of monitoring, broadcast and jamming devices as well as
sophisticated radar equipment were found in the regime communication
center in Tal al-Hara, according to Hourani, who added that the papers,
maps and portable devices in the center were placed in closed box trucks
and moved to an unknown destination by Jabhat al-Nusra.
The aerial reconnaissance station in Tal al-Hara,
the last government reconnaissance center operating in southern Syria, was bombed by Israeli warplanes on Sept. 5, a month before the rebels captured it on Oct. 7. This cannot be considered a coincidence, according to Hasan.
“What pushed Israel to raid Tal al-Hara and to later order the gunmen
to attack it was that this radar station was upgraded in 2012-2013 and
again in early 2014 with new technology to expand the station’s sensing
scope to the south of occupied Palestine, northern Saudi Arabia and
Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, which the Syrian Ministry of Defense
worked on in cooperation with its Russian counterpart. Israel wants to
prevent the Syrian army from monitoring its movements in the occupied
Golan, and to stop any attempts to intercept its aircrafts,” he said.
The general said that Israel is not only supporting the rebels
militarily and logistically and treating their wounds, but is also
training them in the occupied Golan. “We have delivered a complaint
about this [training] camp to the head of UNDOF, and we threatened to
target it. Yet the observers have not responded and the camp is still
there.”
Qasim and Hourani were nervous about discussing this sensitive
subject with Al-Monitor. Their interrupted talk, trembling voices and
sudden breaks in communication whenever someone approached them
underline the danger they face if they were found out to have revealed
such details. They are in the same boat as many opposition activists
working with rebel groups, who consider any cooperation with Israel a
betrayal of the revolution’s objectives.
“This coordination is a betrayal. There are thousands of people who
died, and they did not die for dozens of people to conspire with the
enemy,” Qasim said, ...'
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/syria-opposition-daraa-israel-communication-nusra.html##ixzz3QzB8Cng9
.
http://untribune.com/un-peacekeepers-observe-idf-interacting-al-nusra-golan/
'...In the report Ban writes, “Following the evacuation of UNDOF personnel
from position 85 on 28 August, UNDOF sporadically observed armed members
of the opposition interacting with IDF across the ceasefire line in the
vicinity of United Nations position 85.” [
see map]
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/01/21/394052/Israel-alNusra-cooperating-in-Golan
'... Citing reports on Syrian opposition websites, the Haaretz newspaper said
that the militants operating in the Golan Heights “provide ongoing
intelligence information to Israel, and also receive help from the
latter in the form of weapons and military training.”...'
https://twitter.com/archicivilians/status/508011593028734976
