Global Research

Israel is concerned over the Syrian War’s reach into the Golan Heights which they have been occupying since Six-Day War of 1967.  The Golan Heights is a strategic territory for Israel’s security and it is an important source of its water supplies.  An attack on Syria could occur if they crossed into Israel’s occupied land. 

It was reported in an NBC news report that correspondent John Ray interviewed top Israeli air force officials about Israel’s monitoring of the Golan Heights of the Syrian border:

The spillover of violence from the Syrian conflict into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights is threatening to jeopardize the decades old cease-fire between the two countries and spark a regional conflict. 

A series of mighty Israeli airstrikes, apparently on weapons convoys heading from Syria towards President Bashar Assad’s allies in the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, has shattered the fragile truce that has existed along the border since 1973   

The Golan Heights, rightfully known as the Syrian Golan is a center of dispute between Syria and Israel since the 1940’s.  On June 19^th, 1967 Israel offered to return the Golan Heights to Syria if the Arab world would recognize Israel as a state.  The Arab world refused such agreements with the Khartoum Resolution that same year.  The 1967 occupation of the Golan Heights and the Upper Mount Hermon allowed Israel to seize the entire Upper Jordan River giving Israel access to the Upper Jordanian waters.

Then another conflict developed in 1973 called the Yum Kipper War or the Arab-Israeli War between Egyptian and Syrian forces who invaded the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, both territories occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War.  The United States supplied Israel and the former Soviet Union supplied Egypt and Syria with weapons during the conflict as both superpowers were fighting the cold war against each other during that time.  After the Yum Kipper War, Israel returned 5% of the Golan Heights to Syrian control with a demilitarized zone along the area that is declared a ceasefire zone that extends east under the United Nations Peace Keeping forces.

When an Israeli Air Force official was asked about the situation in the Golan Heights, he said “It’s the kind of thing happening more and more,” one of the uniformed escorts explained.” As he continued “We have for 40 years been training for this exact moment. And we are ready for anything,” said a pilot that can be identified under Israeli military rules only as “Major L.”

The Israeli Air Force official had no comment on whether Israel has been flying missions over Syria,  “We are searching for peace, but preparing for war,’’ is all Pilot L would say.

When asked if he had already flown missions across the border, he shook his head slowly:  no comment.” If Israel decided to attack Syria based on the Golan Heights, then the US and NATO would support Israel’s incursion into Syria’s borders.  It would be a perfect excuse to attack Syria.  The Golan Heights is a strategic military location and one of the most important water resources for the state of Israel.  Israel would protect its interests with the United States as its principal supporter.  The United States Secretary of State John Kerry and the United Nations under Ban-Ki Moon want the remaining UN Peacekeepers who are from the Philippines to stay.  According to an Associated Press report:

The United Nations and the U.S. have separately asked the Philippines not to withdraw its more than 300 peacekeepers from the Golan Heights, warning of “maximum volatility” in the region after several other countries decided to pull out their peacekeeping forces amid escalating violence, the Philippines’ top diplomat said Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appealed to him in recent talks. He said he told them security for the forces should be bolstered for the Philippines to consider keeping them in the volatile buffer zone between Syria and Israel.

If the UN Peacekeeping Forces pull out of the zone then Israel will send in their troops antagonizing the Syrian government.

Last month, del Rosario recommended to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III that the peacekeepers be withdrawn from the Golan Heights following two separate abductions of Filipino peacekeepers and the wounding of another in fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces.

The Philippines Foreign Secretary knows that an Israeli strike into Syria is near; therefore his recommendation to remove forces is being challenged by both the US and the UN.  According to del Rosario:

“This, of course, will create a vacuum in the Golan, that separation stretch which keeps Israel away from Syria,” del Rosario said in a news conference in Manila. He said Kerry and Ban told him that if the Philippines also withdraws, that would “create maximum volatility for the area.” Albert del Rosario did stress that “Aquino said last week the changes he was looking for included additional equipment and enhanced security for the peacekeepers, and different rules of engagement.  He continued “If there is no change in the conditions, it might be an undoable mission and our poor troops will be in the middle of two potentially clashing forces and they cannot defend themselves.”

Israel’s concern with the Golan Heights would allow it to launch a definitive strike that would try to cripple Syria’s military capabilities.  With the Obama administration willing to supply the Anti-Assad rebels with weapons it would allow Israel to enter a full-fledged war into the Golan Heights.  Any artillery shells that lands on the occupied territory would allow Israel to launch a full scale war into Syria with America’s blessing.  The Obama administration would support Israel and the rebels with supplies and possibly even US troops already on Jordan’s northern border.  The Golan Heights has been an area of tension that resulted in numerous conflicts between Israel and Syria for decades.  The Golan Heights has numerous interests for the state of Israel that involves a military advantage over its enemies including Hezbollah and an important commodity for its citizens, water.

If Israel feels that its occupied territory is threatened, it will respond with its military power to remove the Assad government.  But Syria will respond to any attack by Israel with full-force along with the Hezbollah forces based in southern Lebanon.  The Golan Heights dispute can ignite World War III if the Obama administration aids the rebels on one-side allowing Israel to attack Syria on the other.  It was also reported in The Jerusalem Post that the Israel Defense Forces just completed a drill combining the Air Force, Army and Naval forces against possible conflicts against Syria, Hezbollah and even Hamas in the Palestinian territory:

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon addressed an end-of –training event for IDF officers at a base in Mitzpe Ramon, “At this time, the IDF is dealing both at home and abroad, near and far, with a considerable number of fronts of uncertainty,” he said.

Ya’alon cited the Lebanese front where Hezbollah continues to arm itself and plans on harming Israeli civilians in a future conflict, and the front with Syria, “where a civil war continues to exact a heavy price of human lives, and a (civil) war is nearing our borders, placing us before a complex test that is full of significance.”

He added that there was “a front of uncertainty with the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas terrorist group continues to rule, and which has placed as its goal the destruction of the state of Israel.”

Israel is preparing to launch a war starting with Syria, Palestine and Hezbollah which will last for a very long time.  Israel is the occupying force  that is waging war across the Middle East.  It would result in mass civilian deaths on both sides of the conflict.