Israel National News (Link) - Dr. Mordechai Nisan (July 25, 2010)
Syria foments war, creates the Syria-Lebanon-Iran-Turkey anti-Israel axis, and is rewarded for these efforts by those among us who are willing to give her the Golan Heights. But �the four sins of Damascus are unforgivable� said the prophet Amos (1,3)
The atmosphere in our area is heating up and the smell of war is in the air. Reports of long range rockets sent to Syria from Iran are only part of the story.
Alongside Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, the real kingpin of the axis of evil is Syria. Syria is at the apex of planning, encouraging and abetting constant tension, as well as acting as coordinator of all the aggressors in the anti Israel coalition.
The proof of the pudding came when at the end of February, Syrian president Bashar Assad called for a summit in Damascus, to which he invited and then welcomed Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah.
Syria�s political and military terror dossier is filled to overflowing. In the 1930�s Damascus organized an armed invasion against the struggling Jewish return to the land. In 1948 the Syrian army attacked Israel. From the 1950�s until the Six Day War there were non stop artillery bombardments and terrorist attacks from the Syrian held Golan heights to the kibbutzim in the valleys below.
From the 1960�s on, Damascus began supporting and encouraging Arafat�s PLO and Habash� Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In the 1970�s the Syrian army invaded Lebanon in a barbaric war against the Marronite Christians who had ties to Israel. In the 1980�s, thanks to its training camps in the Eastern Lebanon Bak�a area, Syria aided and guided a variety of terror organizations�headed by Hizbullah, Amal and the National Syrian Party.
Syria�s defense and intelligence systems were behind a wide range of hijackings and kidnappings, as well as terror attacks against Jews/Israelis/Lebanese/Egyptians/ Americans and perpetrated on Israeli soil. It was understood that Syria masterminded the murderous terror in Beirut and Tyre, Maalot and Kiryat Shmona, Buenos Aires and in the attempted hijacking of an El Al plane in London. The actual perpetrators were Palestinians and Shiites.
Syrian support of Hizbullah was enhanced by the country�s being a land route for shipments of arms from Iran and Syria to Lebanon and Hizbullah. The fact that the headquarters of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leadership are in Damascus is proof of Syria�s leaning in the Palestinian war against Israel. A training course for Palestinian youth held near Damascus ended recently, after a new terror organization was founded called �Fata Al Intifada.� The name is probably meant as a barb to Abu Maazen who is considered too willing to compromise and make peace with Israel.
Syria has a finger in every pie
Syria is at the forefront of the strategic transformation that has formed against Israel over the last few years. In the past, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey were friendly or passive towards Israel, but today, all three are on the front line of the anti Israel campaign and their hostile stand has caused Israel political and strategic damage, as the country is now surrounded by a tightening, ever widening ring of hatred.
Syria�s achievements in the conflict with Israel are characterized by several landmark events: the 1976 invasions of Lebanon, the alliance with Iran in 1980, peace with Turkey in 2004 as expressed in Bashar Assad�s visit to Turkish PM Erdogan.
The Turks and Syrian�s common interest in controlling the Kurds and their desire to demarcate their adjoining borders soon turned Turkey from an ally of Israel to her aggressive enemy. There is not doubt that widening the breach between Turkey and Israel is a significant Syrian political victory.
When the IDF succeeded in dealing the Shiites a heavy blow in 2006, the Hizbullah recovered and renewed itself thanks to Syria. It follows that until Syria is dealt a heavy blow, there is no chance of defeating Hizbullah, so that as far as long range strategic perspective goes, the Second Lebanon War accomplished nothing. In order to reach a modus vivendi in Lebanon, Syria�s central role must be taken into account. Syria cannot remain outside future conflicts.
The Iranian Shiite Revolution has strong ties to the Allawi rulership of Damascus, reaching all the way to Baal Bek, Nabatia and Dahyia in Southern Beirut. This Iran-Syrian treaty was begun in the 1980�s as a reaction to the Iran-Iraq War in the Persian Gulf and is as relevant as ever. It is not realistic to expect Damascus to break those ties at the request of the United States or Israel.
The ties between the Hizbullah and Palestinians, and between the Hizbullah and Iran pass through Damascus. In April 2007, the Deputy head of Hizbullah, Naim Kassam, said that the Teheran regime authorizes every step his organization takes. In June 2010 the Hizbullah intended to send a flotilla from Lebanon to Gaza and Syria�s long shadow could be seen coordinating, planning and authorizing the anti-Israel actions.
The left and its cohorts� engage in constant polemics about leaving the Golan Heights so as to achieve peace with Syria. These are matched by Syria�s continuous warmongering and �resistance� to Israel�s occupation. The government of Israel keeps bowing to the pressure and agreeing to negotiations with Syria. This Theatre of the Absurd has no rules, no logic and certainly no morality. The world�s hallucinatory perception, still based on the �Land for Peace� mantra, can bring about a terrible capitulation. Therefore, the time has come to change Israel�s music to a clear, understandable refrain, accompanied by suitable actions, that show without a doubt that Israel will never give up the Golan.