Israel knows what Hezbollah is doing in Syria. PM Netanyahu in the north of Israel. Illustrative.
Photo courtesy of Haim Zach / Israeli GPO.
Just two days after a key United States legislator promised to push for American recognition of the Israeli Golan—citing Israel’s security in his comments—that rationale was highlighted as the IDF exposed a Hezbollah terror network operating on the Syrian side of the Golan next door to Israel. IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, in a video posted to the IDF Twitter page on Wednesday, noted that not only is Ali Musa Duqduq heading a network in Syria “aimed at striking Israel,” but he’s been an enemy of the US before too—killing their soldiers in Iraq.
“For American ears, he has history. He was responsible for the abduction and execution of five American servicemen in Iraq in 2007,” said Conricus in the video, noting that Daqduq served time in prison in Iraq before being released as part of a prisoner swap. The terror network includes Syrians, but is “masterminded by Hezbollah,” according to Conricus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday pointed out Hezbollah is a terrorist proxy of Iran, which has sought to build a military foothold in Syria. “So I have a clear message for Iran and for Hezbollah: Israel knows what you’re doing; Israel knows where you’re doing it. What we’ve uncovered today is just the tip of the iceberg. We know a lot more,” said Netanyahu in comments released by his office.
Conricus said the terror network was using the Syrian civilian infrastructure as observation posts to obtain intelligence “against Israeli targets.” The IDF spokesman said that Israel would hold the Syrian regime for attacks against Israel that come from Syria.
Conricus also made it clear that a Hezbollah terror presence so close to the Israeli border with Syria was not acceptable to Israel and shouldn’t be to anyone else. “We’re not going to allow Hezbollah to establish a terror infrastructure on the Golan capable of striking Israeli civilians,” said Conricus. “…Anybody who cares about regional stability should be concerned about the fact that Hezbollah is trying to build a terror network on our doorstep.”
At least one important member of the US certainly seems to share that concern. A secure Israel was listed by US Senator Lindsay Graham in his endorsing of Israeli control of the Golan Heights on Monday
PM Netanyahu, US Sen. Lindsey Graham & US Amb. to Israel David Friedman on the Golan Heights. Illustrative. Photo courtesy of Amos Ben-Gershom (Israeli GPO)
.
Regardless of what the rest of the world thinks of Hezbollah, Israel is confident in knowing who they are and how to respond to them.
Said Netanyahu of Hezbollah, “It does Iran’s bidding and this terror network is part of Iran’s aggression against Israel… Israel will continue to do all that’s necessary to defend itself. We will continue to use all means, overt and covert, to block Iran’s effort to use Syria, Lebanon and Gaza as forward bases for attacking Israel.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, March 13, 2019)