Israel should be cautious about taking territory in Syria, as it risks embroiling the Jewish state in another war, according to Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
“Taking territory could be … dangerous,” he told ILTV News. “The reason why is that it could be used as a casus belli by the Sunni jihadis to say, look, the Israelis are now occupying territory that should have been Syrian, at least by their calculus, and they may use that as a reason to wage war against Israel.”
REBELS IN SYRIA
(קרדיט: ILTV)
However, Schanzer noted that if Sunni jihadis are present on the other side of the buffer zone, it makes sense for Israel to deploy forces there and ensure sufficient defenses to prevent any invasion by these groups.
Israel has been targeting chemical and advanced weapons facilities in Syria to prevent such weapons from falling into the hands of Sunni jihadis. Schanzer described this approach as entirely logical.
“You have some of those advanced weapon assembly plants that Iran had created inside Syria, IRGC facilities. Some of those have apparently been destroyed as well,” he said. “We're talking about precision-guided munitions that are apparently being destroyed by the IDF.”
When asked whether Israel should celebrate the fall of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and the prospects of a new regime, Schanzer urged caution. The groups that overthrew Assad are linked to Al Qaeda and backed by Qatar and Turkey, known sponsors of groups like Hamas and ISIS.
“We're not looking at particularly moderate actors here,” Schanzer explained. “On the one hand, we have the departure of the Assad regime, which has been associated with Iran and its axis, as it's known across the region, and it has been a regime that has helped Hezbollah arm up with Iranian weapons. That's gone. That's a positive. But now what we have in his place is a Sunni jihadi vacuum of sorts.”
He emphasized that for now, all the U.S. and Israel can do is signal to the rebels and their backers that “we’re watching carefully and that there will be repercussions if the jihadis turn their sights on either Israel or the Kurds, two of America's most valuable allies in Syria.”