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Assad Government Returns to Israel's Golan Border
(Jerusalem Post) Anna Ahronheim - Syrian government forces, backed by Iranian militias and Hizbullah, are pushing deep into the rebel-held enclave along Israel's northern border as part of Assad's push to reassert control of the remaining rebel-held areas of the countryside west of Damascus. According to Lt.-Col. (res.) Mordechai Kedar of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel can tolerate Assad's presence on the Golan. However, Israel "cannot tolerate the Iranians and its tentacles, like Hizbullah, to establish themselves on the Golan." From Israel's point of view, he said, out of all the possible victors in Syria - Assad, Iran or the jihadists - Assad is the lesser of three evils. Officials have warned that the IDF would not allow Iran to establish a military foothold within 40 km. of the border, and "the Iranians understand this," Kedar said.