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“Syrian media outlets reported Friday that President Bashar Assad’s security forces seized huge quantities of weapons used by rebels across the country, including Israeli-made arms. According to the unconfirmed reports, Assad’s troops seized a machinegun, Israeli-made bombs, automatic rifles, various explosive devices, protective vests, night-vision equipment and military uniforms, among other things. Syrian television showcased the weapons Friday evening and claimed that some of the arms originated in Israel. Some of the weapons featured Hebrew inscriptions, yet it was unclear who was holding the arms and where the images were photographed. The latest Syrian reports are apparently meant to discourage anti-Assad rebels and present them as traitors who enlist the help of the “Zionist enemy”…………” Haaretz

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also immediately condemned the kidnapping of the Iranian pilgrims in Syria, calling the act inhumane and unjustifiable. “These acts, which are against humane principles and moral and international obligations, are by no means justifiable, and it is expected that these people take immediate action to free Iranian pilgrims,” Mehmanparast said Thursday. In December, five Iranian electrical engineers were abducted on the way to a power plant in the troubled Syrian city of Homs by unknown gunmen. Two more Iranian experts, who were trying to clarify the situation of the five abducted engineers, have also been kidnapped………..”

The Syrian regime claims the rebels are using Israeli weapons, hinting they are connected to Israel. Yet the Israelis have no reason to side with the Islamists who are likely to rule Syria if and when the Assad regime falls. Their only beef with the regime has been that it facilitates arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. They certainly seem to have managed to have an unwritten peace in the Golan for a quarter of a century. Israeli farms and Israeli wines thrive in the Golan: they wouldn’t want to disrupt that.

On the other hand, some Syrian opposition groups, and Saudi media, have claimed in the past that Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters are helping the Damascus regime. One Saudi source, most likely Alarabiya, even repeated allegations that Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army is helping Assad.
I have my usual doubts about that: the Syrian Ba’ath Party has been training security forces to crush dissent since 1963. They are experts at that sort of thing and don’t need any outside help. It is possible that they get Iranian and Hezbollah help, since both support the Assad regime. Yet it is unlikely they would send men and certainly not to a degree that matters, probably weapons and maybe advice (so are the Russians). If they are intervening, they are clearly not doing so to the vast degree as the Saudi military intervention against the Bahrain uprising. Besides, the West would certainly know if any foreign countries are intervening in Syria: they wouldn’t need the Syrian opposition to tell them.
Cheers
mhg


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