Rebels admit receiving Israeli help
Support comes in the form of money, food, medical care and, some say, arms, smuggled across the hills and a single border point into Syria’s war.
This is how many rebels have survived the six-year conflict. Only now, though, is one group prepared to admit that the source of its income is Israel, arch-enemy of the Arab state.
‘‘Jordan has sealed its borders and we have no other access to the outside world,’’ said Shadi al-Golani, an activist with links to an Israeli-backed rebel group. ‘‘That’s why many wounded people have been sent there.’’
‘‘My cousin’s wife had a heart operation in Israel. That’s a reality, and it’s something that we have to accept and live with.’’
Israel has gradually admitted in recent weeks the extent of its support for a small group of rebels calling itself Liwa Fursan al-Golan – the Brigade of the Golan Knights. Like Shadi’s nom de guerre, the name is taken from the mountainous Golan Heights, part of which is within Syria’s present borders and part of which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel’s engagement with the rebels across its northern border began slowly, as far back as 2012, when rebel groups loyal to the Free Syrian Army began seizing territory in the Golan.
At first, Israel limited itself to accepting people into its hospitals – civilians but also, as it became clear, fighters. It was said that among them were militants from the Nusra Front, the local branch of al Qaeda, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front.
Then Israel began giving aid to local villagers, many of whom had been cut them off from nearby towns by the fighting.
Now Israel pays the Golan Knights US$5000 a month to keep the regime, and especially Lebanese militia Hezbollah, away from the border.
Assistance is co-ordinated through the al-Muallaqah crossing, run by a man known as Abu Nidal al-Safouri, who is said to have free access into both Israel and Syria.
Before the war, despite its rhetoric against Israel, the Syrian regime kept its frontier peaceful. That ended in May 2011, when, to divert attention from growing protests against President Bashar al-Assad, Palestinian activists were allowed to storm the border. Israeli police opened fire, killing at least four.
Now Hezbollah and other militias supported by Iran have consolidated their positions across Syria, and Israel fears that it may be weakened in another conflict, such as that which broke out in southern Lebanon in 2006.
The Israeli army has admitted privately that it sends weapons to the Golan Knights, and not only humanitarian supplies, as it used to claim. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said recently: ‘‘Our interest is to keep our borders, to keep the north of Israel, safe.’’
He said it was not ‘‘Israel’s business’’ who the ruler of Syria was, but added that there was a ‘‘commitment to provide a better future for Syrian people; free elections ... and of course the Iranians, Hezbollah, the Assad regimes, they are not democratic forces’’.
The Golan Knights’ acceptance of Israeli support has not been popular. Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian feeling is shared across political divides in Syria.
An activist aligned to a group opposing the Golan Knights said: ‘‘They take orders from Israel, but secretly. They are rejected by all other rebel groups and local civil institutions.’’
Israel is taking a close interest in the ceasefires gradually coming into effect across Syria. The most prominent negotiations are held by Turkey, Iran and Russia in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
Lieberman said: ‘‘We hope that some discussion between Russia and the United States will bring a better future to Syria.’’
He had expectations of the Russians, as a ‘‘great power’’, he said, with interests and an enduring role in Syria. ‘‘The real key to the Syrian crisis is some understanding between Americans and Russians.’’