(Now Lebanon) Tony Badran - According to Dr. Shimon Shapira, a retired brigadier general in the IDF, Tehran's strategy is to set up a Hizbullah structure in Syria, establishing a sectarian militia, backed by imported Shiite groups, that would be integrated with the Syrian regime's army. Iranian assets in Lebanon and Iraq currently maintain a synergy with so-called state institutions. Should the Syrian regime reestablish control over the border region with Israel, it will bring with it this Iranian force, which, Shapira says, "will operate from the Golan" against Israel. The actual choice at this time in southern Syria is between the rebel conglomerate of local rebels and the Sunni jihadist Jabhat al-Nusra, and Iran's militia force setting up shop in the Golan. The writer is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2014-06-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive