I think that might be a mistake to allow Alawites to return to the Golan Heights. The Alawites were the backbone of support for the Assad Crime Family for over 40 years. Anyway I doubt that the Syrians will allow refugees to cross into Israel or Israeli held territory anyway. I am hoping that Syrian Air Force pilots defect to Israel though as they have done in the past.
by Douglas Hamilton
Israel is making preparations for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a flood of refugees from his minority Alawite sect into the Golan Heights, Israel’s military chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
“Assad cannot continue to hold onto power,” a committee spokesman quoted Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz as saying.
“On the day that the regime falls, it is expected to result in a blow to the Alawite sect. We are preparing to take in Alawite refugees on the Golan Heights.”
Israel should also prepare for the possibility that cornered authorities in Damascus could “as a lifesaver … act against us”, the general said.
Assad has faced 10 months of popular revolt in which more than 5,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures.
Israeli officials have said they do not expect his government to last more than a few months but Gantz’s remarks were the first indication that Israel is already making contingency plans for the end of the rule.
In a speech on Tuesday, Assad again blamed the unrest on a foreign conspiracy against Syria. His opponents fear Syria could slip into a sectarian civil war between the majority Sunni Muslims and the Alawites and other minorities which support Assad.
Syria’s neighbors Turkey and Jordan have called on Assad to step down.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said last week that Assad “is weakening” and predicted he would fall this year.
“In my opinion … he won’t see the end of the year. I don’t think he will even see the middle of this year. It doesn’t matter if it will take six weeks or 12 weeks, he will be toppled and disappear,” Barak said.
Gantz told the parliamentary committee that “in the short term it is true that the current events will make it difficult for Assad and the Syrian leadership to act against us”.
But Israel must be concerned about its heavily armed neighbor lashing out against it, he said.
“You must take into account that their firing systems remain intact and maintained. Among other things this includes the Russian arming of the advanced Yakhont (cruise) missile and the SA17 (anti-aircraft system),” he told the committee.
“I am not sure that as the events continue the Golan Heights will remain quiet. It could be, under certain circumstances, as a lifesaver, he could act against us.”
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Read the rest: Israel making preparations for a flood of Syrian refugees after predicted fall of Assad
Tags: Bashar Assad, Douglas Hamilton
