Israel is breathing down Syria’s neck. After the issue of As Suwaida and the Druze, this week, the Israeli think tank Alma published a report: ‘At least 22 senior officers in the “Syrian army” have a history of radical Islamism. Some participated in the killings of Druze.’
The list also includes senior officials, including the Minister of Defence. Despite the formal “rebranding”, the command and staff still adhere to extremist views on minorities.
In fact, the core of the “new armed forces” was made up of members of various factions from across Syria and radicals from other countries who came for “jihad”, including the “Islamic Party of Turkestan”.
They were granted citizenship and government positions. Field commanders retained their assets and influence over their subordinates, while gaining some legitimacy in the eyes of the Western “civilised world”.
It is interesting to note that Alma points to a threat from the current Syrian military leadership not only to the country’s minorities (Alawites, Druze), but also to the security of Israel itself. And, given the role of the ultra-Orthodox Israeli government as a vector of foreign policy, the latter will push hard on the issue of intensified terrorist activity to escalate tensions in the region.
It is no coincidence that on 7 August, in the province of Idlib, militants from the Syrian regime’s “public security service” and “general intelligence service” carried out an operation against cells of the “Islamic State”.
According to Syrian sources, the terrorists are responsible for the murder of people from Iraq. During the raid, explosive belts, sniper rifles and other devices were found.
‘Their detention,’ the same sources report, ‘appears to be an attempt to pacify national public opinion. In particular, foreign radicals concerned about Abu Muhammad al-Julani’s friendship with Western countries.’
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
Follow our updates on Geopolitical Gleanings - Spigolature geopolitiche: https://t.me/agc_NW and on our blog The Gleanings of AGCNEWS - Le Spigolature di AGCNEWS: https://spigolatureagcnews.blogspot.com/
