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What Israel Should Do About Syria

(Times of Israel) Ehud Yaari - Since there seems to be an agreement in Israel that we prefer the devil we do not know to the one we have come to know so well in Syria, there are certain measures that should be seriously contemplated: Israel has to scream from the rooftops that we fully support the transformation of the Syrians from mere obedient subjects to real citizens; that we sympathize with the popular desire to see the collapse of the hated internal security organizations; that Israel would be willing to contribute to any international effort to offer humanitarian assistance to the destroyed cities of Homs, Idlib, Zabadany, etc. Israel should establish quiet channels to some different factions and personae among the fragmented opposition groupings. Having maintained for years contacts with quite a few of them, I have reached the conclusion that unlike Egypt or Tunisia, Syria is not necessarily destined to fall under a Muslim Brotherhood regime, although Islamists are certainly key players in the current uprising. Using its long-standing contacts to the Druze community, Israel could try to encourage the inhabitants of Suweida Province (the Druze Mountain) in southern Syria to throw their lot against Assad. So far the Druze have been hesitant to pick sides, but once they do, it will have an enormous impact on the attitude of other important minorities - Christians, Kurds, Ismailis, Circassians. Israeli intelligence agencies possess huge amounts of detailed quality data on the Assad killing machine - they know who gives orders to whom and how; they know what the instructions are and how are they carried out. This is information that is highly incriminating and embarrassing to Assad.
2012-02-15 00:00:00
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