Honesty is the best policy
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
Sensible people all over the world had a good chuckle after Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman insisted on Sunday that Israel "has no interest in intervening in the civil war in Syria, either in favor or against" Assad.
The problem: Israeli policymakers have never hidden their support for Syria's "moderate" rebels.
According to a think tank that does contract work for NATO and the Israeli government, the West should not destroy ISIS, the fascist Islamist extremist group that is committing genocide and ethnically cleansing minority groups in Syria and Iraq.
Why? The so-called Islamic State “can be a useful tool in undermining” Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Russia, argues the think tank’s director.
“The continuing existence of IS serves a strategic purpose,” wrote Efraim Inbar in “The Destruction of Islamic State Is a Strategic Mistake,” a paper published on Aug. 2.
By cooperating with Russia to fight the genocidal extremist group, the United States is committing a “strategic folly” that will “enhance the power of the Moscow-Tehran-Damascus axis,” Inbar argued, implying that Russia, Iran and Syria are forming a strategic alliance to dominate the Middle East.
Israel claims that its illegal airstrikes in Syria are targeting Hezbollah.
But Moscow has repeatedly stated that Hezbollah has played a decisive role in combating ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria — which makes Netanyahu's tantrums about Iran and Hezbollah in Syria a bit of a joke.
Shameful. Why won't Assad show "restraint" when dealing with Israel?
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
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