Outgoing IDF Chief Says Yes, We Armed Anti-Government Extremists in Syria
by: Alexander Rubenstein for Mint Press News
date: January 15, 2019
Excerpt:
Israel also paid the salaries of Fursan al-Joulan, an Islamist group in the area that has been armed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and trained, funded, and armed by Qatar as well. Members of the 400-strong group were paid $5,000 a month by Tel Aviv.
“Israel stood by our side in a heroic way,” Joulan spokesman Moatasem al-Golani said in 2017. “We wouldn’t have survived without Israel’s assistance.”
Meanwhile, “everyone” in Hader, a Golan Heights village, believes that Israel “tacitly” supports Jabhat al-Nusra, Channel 4 News reported in May, quoting one villager as calling Nusra jihadists Western and Israeli “proxies.”
In November, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon held talks with Syrian rebel groups while he was still in power.