Israel’s fears to see an Islamist Syria created if Assad’s regime implodes have been well known since the unrest started about two years ago.For days now, Israel has been warning Syria to be careful about the stockpiles of weapons that the country owns. Israel’s primary concern regarding the region is that Hezbollah that it qualifies as ”global jihadists” gets chemical warheads. The Israeli intelligence agency is believed to be worried to see Hezbollah lay hands on the extensive stock of weapons in many warehouses inside Syria.
According to former Mossad chief Amnon Sofrin, as instability is growing in Syria, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nazrallah wishes to get everything out of this country.
A defense analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Alex Fishman, said that once these weapons reach Lebanon “they will be swallowed up in secret underground stockpiles. Looking for them will be like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
Israel has reportedly envisaged sending “specialist skilled units” on the ground to make sure that chemical weapons are secure. But as the operation proved very complicated and risky since the units would have had to cross the Lebanese frontiers to reach Syria, Israeli warplanes were deployed to make sure that the weapons were not conveyed to Lebanon. Was one of these aircrafts behind the attack that destroyed a scientific research centre located to the North-west of Damascus, killing two and wounding many persons? Israeli Defense Forces made no comment, but Lebanese media claimed that a dozen fighter planes have been crossing the borders all night.
