Netanyahu: Israel is ‘constantly monitoring’ Syria; Israeli intel thinks Syria chaos could help Lebanon ceasefire

Russian and Syrian regime airstrike halt rebel onslaught on city of Hama

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declared the country was monitoring the rapidly developing situation in Syria, in his first public comments on the issue since Islamist rebel groups captured the country’s second-largest city of Aleppo over the weekend.

“We are constantly following what is happening in Syria. We are determined both to protect the vital interests of the State of Israel, and also to preserve the achievements of the war [in Lebanon],” Netanyahu said while meeting new IDF recruits with Defense Minister Israel Katz.

“In this sense, we are also enforcing the [Lebanon] ceasefire agreement in a very firm manner, and any violation will immediately meet a strong response from the IDF. So it was and so it will be. We will continue to maintain Israel's security,” the prime minister said.

The shocking success of the Islamist rebel groups in Syria has refocused international media attention on the country that has been mired in a brutal civil war since 2011.

The Syrian regime has close ties to Hezbollah and has facilitated weapon transfers through its territory to the Lebanese terror group, causing Netanyahu to explicitly threaten the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad in a recent speech.

On Saturday, the IAF once again struck military infrastructure next to border crossings between Syria and Lebanon that were actively being used to smuggle weapons into Lebanon, in violation of the ceasefire agreement. On Sunday, the IAF threatened and scared off an Iranian plane suspected of carrying weapons meant for Hezbollah as it approached Syria, according to Ynet News.

Israel’s intelligence chiefs reportedly warned Netanyahu that recent developments could cause Israel significant problems, while conversely, also potentially stabilizing the ceasefire in Lebanon.

According to Channel 12, the emergency meeting with Netanyahu was convened on Friday to discuss the rebels’ surprise advance and the potential fallout for Israel.

Israeli intelligence reportedly told the prime minister that the harm to Iranian forces, for example the killing of a high-ranking IRGC officer over the weekend, was beneficial for Israel. Furthermore, Hezbollah’s attention will shift to Syria, and “so will its forces, in order to defend the Assad regime.” This will increase the likelihood of success for the ceasefire in Lebanon.

However, “the collapse of the Assad regime would likely create chaos in which military threats against Israel would develop.” The chaotic situation could cause the regime’s strategic weapons systems, particularly “the remnants of chemical weapons,” to fall into the hands of Islamist terror rebel groups, who despite fighting Israel’s enemies, are by no means Israel’s friends.

Israel is “paying close attention all the time to what is happening in Syria, and is ready for any scenario,” an Israeli official emphasized while speaking with the Times of Israel on Sunday.

After the lightning assault to capture Aleppo, on Sunday the rebel forces continued south in an effort to capture Hama, a key city on the highway to the capital of Damascus.

However, the advance was halted as the Syrian and Russian air forces bombed the rebels’ supply lines and targets in their stronghold in the northwestern city of Idlib, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned monitoring group based in the U.K., at least 412 people have been killed since the beginning of the rebel attack so far.

The Russian TASS news outlet said the regime’s military had sent reinforcements to Hama, setting the stage for a potential large-scale showdown in the city that has been the battleground between the Assad regime and its opponents numerous times in the past 40+ years.

President Assad meanwhile said Sunday that terrorism “only understands the language of power,” vowing to “break and eliminate” the newly invigorated opposition.

The flare-up of the civil war, which at its height had turned into an arena for proxy wars between various regional powers, caused concern not just in Israel.

The interior minister of Iraq, which lies on Syria’s eastern border, declared the frontier between the countries to be “fully secured, completely closed, unbreakable.”

According to Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, the border is being secured by the border guard, the Iraqi army, and forces of the Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a militia that includes Iran-backed terror groups.

According to Channel 12 News, Israel's intelligence explicitly warned Netanyahu about the potential entry of large numbers of Iranian proxy forces, like the PMF which is now stationed on the border, into Syria to fight against the Islamist rebels.