The situation in Daraa, in southern Syria, is of interest to the security services in Israel, not only because of its proximity to the border, but also because Iran continues its efforts to build forward bases there as well, according to intelligence information.
Although intelligence assessments in Israel indicate that the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, is not interested in the Iranian forces remaining inside his country, he sometimes resorts to these forces, as is happening now in Daraa, in order to impose his control over this area, which It is one of the areas from which the Syrian crisis erupted about ten years ago.
The personality of the Syrian president is of interest to psychologists who feed the Israeli intelligence services with information about his personality, and seek to evaluate and understand its nature.
On the one hand, it is about a doctor who received his education outside Syria, but on the other hand, he imposes orders and takes decisions that lead to the taking of civilian lives, as he used chemical weapons previously, and caused humanitarian crises, the most recent of which is the humanitarian crisis that Daraa is witnessing now, according to the Syrian Observatory. for human rights.
A security source who spoke to media said that after his victory in the “elections”, Assad received a moral boost as he sought to restore all Syrian lands to be under the control of his regime.
However, the failure of the Fourth Division of the Syrian army to complete this task inside Daraa and to control it, prompted the regime to request assistance from the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which recently pushed elements loyal to Tehran to southern Syria, according to what the same source revealed.
He explained that the number of these forces amounts to hundreds of Hezbollah members and other elements loyal to Tehran, but they are not necessarily Iranians.
Among the leaders of the Iranian-affiliated elements and groups operating in Daraa are Hajj Hashem, his son Jawad Hashem, and Ali Musa Abbas Daqduq, known as “Abu Hussein Sajid”, who heads the “Golan File” unit, and they are affiliated with Hezbollah.
The security source explained that these elements are equipped with heavy and light weapons and drones, which have become a strategic weapon, so that they can be used later in order to launch attacks on Israeli territory, similar to similar attacks about two years ago.
In August 2019, the head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Division, Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, revealed that his country had succeeded in bombing sites in Syria to thwart an attack that would have been carried out against Israel by Iranian forces that had recruited a cell to carry it out via drones, including suicide bombers and others carrying bombs.
Israel considers that any entry of Iranian forces will not only aim to support the Syrian regime forces, but also establish military barracks against them, and stresses that it will not, in any way, accept the presence of such forces.
The sources confirmed to the media that Israel is working in various ways and in coordination with Russia to prevent any Iranian outpost in all of Syria, but especially in the south of the country and the Daraa region in particular.
She explained that there is consensus with the Russian side on this issue, and there is a mechanism agreed upon between Russia and Israel in order to avoid any friction and to coordinate on common interests.
She stressed that “this mechanism is working in an excellent manner” so as to guarantee freedom of action for the Israeli side and to avoid mistakes that may cause losses to both sides.
This clarification comes after a remarkable comment by the Russian Ministry of Defense last month, in which it said that it had responded to Israeli strikes targeting military sites inside Syria, which observers considered to be signs of a change in the “rules of the game” in the well-known Syrian arena for years.
The Russian comment came within two separate statements issued by the Russian Defense Ministry regarding two strikes, the first targeting the Al-Safira area in the countryside of Aleppo governorate, and the second targeting sites in the Al-Qusayr area in the countryside of Homs governorate.
In the two statements, the ministry said that the two Russian air defense systems owned by the Syrian army shot down “most of the Israeli missiles,” which are distributed over 4 in the countryside of Homs and 8 in the countryside of Aleppo.
The security official confirmed to media that the humanitarian situation is very deteriorating inside Syrian territory, and the task of restoring life in Daraa and areas of conflict with the regime will be very complicated due to the scarcity of resources and financial aid, which is what Iran exploits in order to increase its influence in the region, such as schools and institutions that were established in a monastery. Al-Zour is on Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, where students are taught the Persian language.
