It is not natural for the Israeli political and military establishment just to watch the events and violence taking place along its borders. During the past one year, the Israeli government did not spell out any stand on the Syrian revolution, although it was one of the dangerous incidents facing Israel since 1973 War.
Why we classify it as more dangerous than what is happening in Egypt or what had happened in Lebanon for years, because the system in Egypt remained intact even after the fall of Mubarak as the military is the country’s basic pillar. Lebanese crises and threats used to disturb Israel but never posed any threat to its national security.
The Syrian situation is different. There is a total revolution that aims to root out a regime that is important for Israel, which has played two roles in the past 40 years as police and troublemaker. Some people say that it was Israel that convinced the US and Russia not to support the revolutionists and it practically supported the Assad regime in Damascus. I believe that it had played a significant role in strengthening the Russian position to support the Assad regime at military and diplomatic levels.
The Israeli reasoning toward events taking place in Syria is not that difficult for us to understand. Israel believes that it would be safer under Assad regime than the new government whose credentials are unknown or the new Islamic extremist regime that would open a new war front with the Jewish state.
The most striking thing is that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak went out to make a strong statement that he was convinced of the inevitable fall of the Assad regime. Barak’s analysis is important as it replaces the previous Israeli stand as he insisted that the fall of Assad regime would serve Israeli interests against Iran.
As expected Barak’s statement was taken by the pro-regime media as a good conduct certificate for the regime at a time its reputation had fallen sharply in the Arab world. The Syrian propaganda machinery believes that if it can convince millions of Arabs what Barak had said about the regime they would be ready to forget and forgive its crimes.
The Arab public usually stands against any team that is supported by the Israelis. In the past they had stood with Saddam, Iran and Hezbullah despite the crimes they had committed against their own people because they stood against Israel.
In the name of enmity toward Israel they gave champion titles and support to criminal regimes such as Iran, Saddam, two Assads and Qaddafi. This will not put Israel in a spot as it knows that these are regimes based on lies and false propagandas and they will never dare to fight with it or threaten its security.
When we analyze the reason why Israel changed its stand and kept away from supporting the Syrian regime we can understand that it is because the regime would not succeed in defeating the revolution.
The unprecedented killings of people and destruction of properties in Syria, which has no equals in any civil wars, show the progress of revolution and that the regime is definitely going to fall.
The Israelis who sit on the top of Golan Heights are more knowledgeable about what is taking place in Syria than other regional neighbors. They must be knowing that its ally Assad regime has no future. Consequently the Barak statement would satisfy the Syrian media but would only increase the fears and worries of Syrian leaders.
Barak announced in the US after long silence that the Assad regime is doomed to fall and he spoke about the Russian role to bring regime change in Damascus while keeping major Syrian establishments such as security and military. It would not be easy for the Syrian people to remove the tooth of the regime.
The most surprising thing in Syria is not the continuous firings and bombardments of Syrian military and security regime but the resistance of the Syrian people because they are taking the painful attacks that have appeared greater than what we had expected.
What the Syrian people are facing is not a frightening tragedy but they are fighting a war on multiple fronts. It is important that the world should understand the regime's lies that project the revolutionaries as terrorists supported by foreign agents. Everybody should know that the revolution of this intensity would not stop without the fall of the Assad regime.
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