By Marshall Ramsey II
A day after Syrian rebels lost the strategic and symbolic town of Qusayr to the Syrian army, they thought they had gained control of the Quneitra crossing into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Thursday.
Their victory was short-lived, however. Israeli security sources said Syrian troops took back the crossing after heavy fighting.(1)
The Quneitra crossing is in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, most of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 6-Day War.
It has both strategic and symbolic importance because of its proximity to Israel and to the Syrian capital.(2)
CNN reported that clashes continued even after the army took control, but were less fierce.(1)
Syrian forces launched an assault on Qusayr on Sunday but are still meeting with fierce resistance from the rebels, as the town provides an important supply line for arms and volunteers from nearby Lebanon.
Qusayr is a key prize for Mr Assad’s forces because of its strategic location between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, the Alawite heartland of the embattled president’s regime.(3)
Like Qusayr, which the army recaptured on Wednesday, Quneitra holds symbolic importance for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The town was lost to Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, but was reclaimed in 1973 by Assad's father Hafez al-Assad.(1)
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the area leading to Quneitra had been closed off and that two Syrians who were wounded in the fighting have been taken into Israel for treatment. She could not say whether they were rebels or Syrian army soldiers.
Israel is worried that the Golan, which it captured from Syria in 1967, will become a springboard for attacks on Israelis by jihadi fighters, who are battling Assad.(4)
According to Hizbullah Deputy Secretary Sheikh Naim Qassem, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is serious about opening a front against Israel from the Golan Heights area, and that it only remains to be done. This echoes recent statements by Assad that he is facing 'popular pressure' to open a front against Israel in the Golan Heights area.(3)
"Syria has real friends in the region and in the world that will not let Syria fall into the hands of America, Israel, or Takfiri (extreme jihadi) groups. How will this happen? Details will come later," he said in a broadcast on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV channel. "I say this based on information....not wishful thinking."
Some of those friends appear to be Iran. Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministry Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Monday that unless the flow of fighting strength and arms to the Syrian rebels is halted, Syrian ruler Bashar Assad would launch a second from the Golan against Israel. This statement, when combined with al-Assad's statement about 'real pressure' to open a front against Israel in the Golan, appears to suggest that Assad of Syria, Iran, and Nasrallah with Hezbollah, WANT the flow of weapons and aid to Syrian rebels to continue so they can use that as an excuse to attack and/or invade Israel.(3)
(4) http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/world-war-iii-syria-seizes-israeli.html
(3) http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/world-war-iii-pt-5-israels-take-on.html
(2) http://www.rappler.com/world/30767-syria-golan-frontier-israel
(1) http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/130606/syrian-army-retakes-quneitra-crossing-israeli-golan-heights
A day after Syrian rebels lost the strategic and symbolic town of Qusayr to the Syrian army, they thought they had gained control of the Quneitra crossing into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Thursday.
Their victory was short-lived, however. Israeli security sources said Syrian troops took back the crossing after heavy fighting.(1)
The Quneitra crossing is in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, most of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 6-Day War.
It has both strategic and symbolic importance because of its proximity to Israel and to the Syrian capital.(2)
CNN reported that clashes continued even after the army took control, but were less fierce.(1)
Syrian forces launched an assault on Qusayr on Sunday but are still meeting with fierce resistance from the rebels, as the town provides an important supply line for arms and volunteers from nearby Lebanon.
Qusayr is a key prize for Mr Assad’s forces because of its strategic location between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, the Alawite heartland of the embattled president’s regime.(3)
Like Qusayr, which the army recaptured on Wednesday, Quneitra holds symbolic importance for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The town was lost to Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, but was reclaimed in 1973 by Assad's father Hafez al-Assad.(1)
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the area leading to Quneitra had been closed off and that two Syrians who were wounded in the fighting have been taken into Israel for treatment. She could not say whether they were rebels or Syrian army soldiers.
Israel is worried that the Golan, which it captured from Syria in 1967, will become a springboard for attacks on Israelis by jihadi fighters, who are battling Assad.(4)
According to Hizbullah Deputy Secretary Sheikh Naim Qassem, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is serious about opening a front against Israel from the Golan Heights area, and that it only remains to be done. This echoes recent statements by Assad that he is facing 'popular pressure' to open a front against Israel in the Golan Heights area.(3)
"Syria has real friends in the region and in the world that will not let Syria fall into the hands of America, Israel, or Takfiri (extreme jihadi) groups. How will this happen? Details will come later," he said in a broadcast on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV channel. "I say this based on information....not wishful thinking."
Some of those friends appear to be Iran. Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministry Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Monday that unless the flow of fighting strength and arms to the Syrian rebels is halted, Syrian ruler Bashar Assad would launch a second from the Golan against Israel. This statement, when combined with al-Assad's statement about 'real pressure' to open a front against Israel in the Golan, appears to suggest that Assad of Syria, Iran, and Nasrallah with Hezbollah, WANT the flow of weapons and aid to Syrian rebels to continue so they can use that as an excuse to attack and/or invade Israel.(3)
(4) http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/world-war-iii-syria-seizes-israeli.html
(3) http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/world-war-iii-pt-5-israels-take-on.html
(2) http://www.rappler.com/world/30767-syria-golan-frontier-israel
(1) http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/130606/syrian-army-retakes-quneitra-crossing-israeli-golan-heights
