(Investigative Project on Terrorism) Yaakov Lappin - As the Assad regime completes its takeover of southern Syria, Israel is winding down it humanitarian and medical operation that saved thousands of Syrian lives throughout the civil war. Israeli hospitals have treated 4,800 Syrian civilians since 2011, half of them children. A separate field clinic in the Golan Heights treated 6,000 Syrian civilians since last year. Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former IDF Military Intelligence research division chief, said the Syrians "are much more aware than they were in the past that Israel is a force for good. In the past, due to education programs, Syrians perceived Israel as a demon that wants to expand, and which poses many dangers. Today, the Syrian public knows that Israel is a power that tried to help it, at least on the humanitarian level, during years of war. They know Israel provided extraordinary care for the sick and wounded near the border. And beyond that, that a variety of Israeli humanitarian organizations provided aid. That will remain in the Syrian public awareness." Syrian-Druze civilians living near the Israeli border have also become more friendly towards Israel, Kuperwasser assessed. "They see Hizbullah [which fought alongside the Assad regime] as hostile. There has been an attempt to force the Syrian-Druze in the southwest village of As-Suwayda to join Hizbullah. But they have resisted this. The Assad regime is also trying to forcibly recruit them, but they refused this as well."
2018-08-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive