Israel Update for May 2010

David Dolan

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu forcefully stated during May that his government is not planning any military action against either Syrian or Hizbullah forces in the coming weeks and months. However he again charged that the extremist Shiite regime ruling Iran is pushing the leaders of Syria and Hizbullah to wage war against Israel in order to deflect a possible IDF attack upon Iran's burgeoning nuclear programme.

A senior Israeli military leader said that the relatively small Hizbullah militia force currently has more deadly weapons at its disposal than many countries possess. This statement came after an IDF military intelligence officer revealed that Syria is smuggling M-600 medium range missiles into Lebanon that are capable of striking the main army headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile Russian media reports said that the Kremlin plans to sell highly sophisticated weapons to Damascus, including jet fighters. The two countries were close allies during the Soviet era, with the Kremlin pushing Syria to go to war against Israel in both 1967 and 1973. A senior Israeli official said that North Korea is also sending weapons of mass destruction to Syria after helping the country build its first nuclear reactor, which Israeli warplanes destroyed in 2006. Israeli officials also rebuked their Russian counterparts for coddling the radical Palestinian Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip.

Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed during May that Israeli President Shimon Peres had offered him the full return of the Golan Heights if he agreed to sever all ties with Iran and stop smuggling weapons to Hizbullah. However Peres denied that he had made such an offer, although he did confirm he had sent a message to Assad via Russian leaders.

The Obama administration assured concerned Israeli leaders that the US will not support efforts by Egypt, Turkey and other nations to focus international scrutiny on Israel's nuclear programme. Although officially allied with Israel, both Muslim governments have been urging the Americans to place Israel's reported nuclear weapons in the spotlight.

Indirect peace talks finally got going between Palestinian Authority and Israeli negotiators during May, mediated by the United States. But a former Israeli Foreign Minister predicted that the talks will fail since the Palestinians remain bitterly divided between supporters of Hamas, who reject all peace talks with the "Zionist enemy," and PLO Fatah party backers who generally back the peace process.

Syrian War Talk Rocks Region

Israel's senior government leaders again strongly denied Arab media reports that they are planning a summertime military offensive against Lebanon's Hizbullah militia force and/or Syria. During a visit to the IDF's Northern Command outpost on May 11, Prime Minister Netanyahu charged that Iran is "spreading lies in order to escalate regional tensions." He added that Israel "wants security, stability and peace, and has no intention of attacking its neighbours, contrary to the false rumours which have been spread on the subject."

The Israeli leader also said that he is "ready to enter peace talks with Syria without preconditions, just like we are now doing with the Palestinians." However Syrian dictator Bashar Assad told the Lebanese As Safir newspaper one week later that "We do not trust the Israelis, and are ready for war or peace at any moment." He added that "armed resistance" to Israel was a necessary tool in the regional Muslim arsenal.

In the same interview, Assad claimed that Israeli President Shimon Peres sent him a message via Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in mid May, offering a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which IDF forces captured from Damascus in June 1967. Assad maintained that Peres made clear that such an evacuation of nearly 20,000 Jewish residents living on the strategic plateau, located just above Israel's Upper Galilee region which is home to several hundred thousand Israelis, would take place if Syria severs all ties with Iran and stops supporting terror groups like Hizbullah and Hamas.

Peres' office in Jerusalem later confirmed that a message to Assad was delivered by the Russian President when he visited Damascus in mid May. However the statement did not include an offer of a total Israeli withdrawal in exchange for the conditions mentioned by Assad. Instead Peres stressed that "Israel has no plans to attack Syria" and is "prepared to immediately engage in peace talks with the Syrians." But he also sternly added that Israeli government leaders would "not allow Syria to continue to two-time Israel by demanding a withdrawal from the Golan Heights on the one hand, while setting up Iranian missiles on the mountains of the North on the other."

Israeli officials expressed alarm over media reports stating that the Kremlin has sealed a massive weapons deal with Syria. The reports said the deal is worth over one billion US dollars, and would include new MIG-29 warplanes, Pantsir anti-aircraft missiles and artillery systems. The Israeli media said government officials fear that at least some of the weapons are actually being paid for by Syria's main regional ally, Iran, and may later be transferred to the hostile Shiite country.

A senior official in the Foreign Ministry told reporters off the record that "We have raised concerns with the Russians as to their weapons sales to the region, at the highest level." He added that "We have seen Russian weapons that have been given and sold to different countries harboring terrorist groups. We think it is a problem when states that oppose peace and reconciliation and are part of the extremist axis receive military support."

More Missiles Delivered To Hizbullah Forces