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ISRAEL
is considering creating a buffer zone reaching up to 10 miles inside Syria to
protect itself from fundamentalist rebels on the other side of the border.
The
proposal, which has been drawn up by the military and presented to Binyamin
Netanyahu, the prime minister, is intended to secure the 47-mile border against
a growing Islamist threat if President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime loses
control of the area.
The
buffer would be modelled on the Lebanese security zone, in which the Israeli
defence forces patrolled jointly with the South Lebanon army, a militia, up to
16 miles inside Lebanon from 1985 to 2000.
“We’ve
presented the prime minister with a comprehensive plan to defend Israel’s
border after, or perhaps before, the fall of Assad’s regime,” said a source
close to the military planners.
“A
buffer zone set up with the co-operation of local villagers lies at the heart
of the plan. If the country remains unstable we might have to stay there for
years.”
In
recent months jihadist groups such as the Nusra Front, which Washington regards
as a terrorist organisation linked to al-Qaeda, are reported to have infiltrated
several border villages. Two of the villages, Breika and Bir Ajam, are less
than a mile from the Israeli border.
Netanyahu,
who visited Israeli outposts overlooking the rebel villages last month, watched
construction workers erect a 20ft steel wall along the border to replace a
rickety fence.
“The
old fence was fine for more than 40 years,” said the military source. “We knew
then that there was a strongman in Damascus. But not any more. The new wall
will be good when it’s ready but without the buffer zone mortar and rocket
attacks on Israel would be a daily event.
Major-General
Aviv Kokhavi, the head of Israeli military intelligence, visited Washington
shortly before the raid and talked to colleagues in the Pentagon and CIA. At
the same time Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu’s head of national security, visited
Moscow to brief Russian officials, who are among Assad’s closest allies.
No
mention was made of a specific target but the Russians were warned that Israel
would not tolerate any Russian weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah.
Until
now, Israel has been careful not to interfere directly in the Syrian conflict.
But there are increasing fears that Iran is attempting to retain its influence
in the country in the event that Assad falls.
The
Sunday Times has learnt that a heavily fortified Iranian signal intelligence
facility near Dara’a, about seven miles from the Israeli border, is among the
Israelis’ future targets.
“The
Iranians are still major players in Syria,” said the military source. “They’ve
a defence pact with Assad and for the past two years they’ve been trying to
help him. But they know he’s doomed and want to win as much lasting influence
as possible before he goes.”
The
Iranian monitoring station is just 10 miles from a similar Israeli facility in
Har Avital.
“We
know they are monitoring our army communication, gathering intelligence and
trying to log into our military computers,” said the source. “This is a serious
problem for our forces.”
There
is growing awareness in the Israeli military that the collapse of the Syrian regime
could suck the Jewish state into a long-term commitment in Syria.
“Israel
will miss the Assads,” said a veteran intelligence source. In a reference to
the mountain range that divides Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
he added: “The Assads, father and son, were very nasty people. But with them,
we knew that a promise was a promise, and an agreement was solid as the
boulders of Mount Hermon.”
