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Israel Has Best Intelligence on Syria in Western Hands

(Foreign Policy) Ronen Bergman - On March 10, 2013, Israeli intelligence sources began reporting that the Syrian regime had made use of chemical weapons, based on sources that eavesdropped on the Syrian army's tactical frequencies and surveillance satellites that monitored movement out of a bunker known to contain chemical weapons. Israel shared its findings with the U.S., but Washington would not acknowledge those findings' veracity. In the end, the U.S. admitted that the information was correct. Israel continues to share vast amounts of information about Syria with the U.S. The Wall Street Journal credits Israel with giving the CIA "intelligence from inside an elite special Syrian unit that oversees Mr. Assad's chemical weapons" after the massive Aug. 21 sarin attack outside Damascus. "We have a very extensive knowledge of what is happening in Syria. Our ability to collect information there is profound. Israel is the eyes and ears, sometimes exclusively, sometimes as complementary aid, to what U.S. intelligence is able or unable to collect itself," Maj. Gen. Uri Sagi, Israel's former chief of military intelligence, told me on Sept. 19. Today, Israel enjoys the best intelligence on Syria in Western hands, and it is sharing that intelligence with the U.S. The Americans are also getting information from Jordan and Turkey, both of which gather information themselves and allow the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to set up listening posts on their territory.
2013-09-20 00:00:00
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