Netanyahu to urge Britain to 'carefully vet’ Syria rebels’ intentions before supplying them with arms
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to ask British Prime Minister David Cameron during their meeting Wednesday in London to be extremely cautious about arming the Syrian rebels, a senior Israeli official has said.
Netanyahu will tell Cameron that because there are known to be global jihad elements among the rebels, it is very important to carefully vet a rebel group’s intentions before supplying it with weapons.
A senior Israeli official said Jerusalem does not categorically object to Western nations arming the Syrian rebels, given that states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already arming extremist Islamic rebel groups in Syria. But, he said,
Israel fears that Western military aid will be dispatched overly hastily, before the exact identity of the recipients is clarified.
The rebels claim that without these weapons they will have difficulty defeating the armed forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israel fears, however, that should the weapons supplied to the rebels by the EU fall into the hands of rebel groups identified with Al-Qaida, they may later be used against Israel Defense Forces troops on the Golan Heights or against Israeli aircraft.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-to-urge-britain-to-carefully-vet-syria-rebels-intentions-before-supplying-them-with-arms.premium-1.515844
Israel may be more comfortable with the 'devil they know' than with the 'devil they don't know'. Israel fears that weapons supplied to the opposition will fall into the hands of al-Queda groups. Israel seems to have little fear that Assad's tanks and planes will be used against it. They never have been and, at least for now, those tanks and planes have other targets.
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