BEIRUT: The Israeli military has been in direct contact with Syrian rebels for more than 18 months, facilitating the treatment of wounded fighters and at times exchanging parcels and ushering uninjured Syrians into Israel, according to UN reports.
The quarterly UN reports bolster speculation over the past year that Israels ‘humanitarian assistance’ to more than 1,000 wounded Syrians had also opened a channel of communication with Syrian rebels, a report by Christa Case Bryant said in the Christian Science Monitor on Monday.
The report came a day after Israel carried out two air strikes on Syrian military formations near Damascus. The Israeli military declined to comment on that claim.
Reports presented to the United Nations Security Council reveal numerous interactions between Israeli troops and rebel groups on the Israel-Syrian border.
UN Observers in the Golan Heights meticulously detailed instances of contact between IDF soldiers and rebels.
The reports were first detailed by Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday.
In August this year, the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) took over the Quneitra a border crossing between Israel and Syria on the Golan.
Israel seized the Golan Heights in 1967 after conquering it in a war with Syria and annexed it in 1981. The cease-fire line is today patrolled by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
UNDOF stated that During periods of heavy engagement with Syrian forces, [rebel groups] transferred 89 wounded persons across the ceasefire line to the IDF, a May 2014 dispatch reads, adding later that the IDF handed 19 treated and two deceased individuals back to the insurgents.
On another occasion, also dated May 2014, UN monitors observed IDF troops handing over two boxes to armed members of the opposition on the Syrian side.
It observed that the soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) allowed two individuals to pass from the Bravo line the Syrian side to the Alpha line on the Israeli side. It added, UNDOF sporadically observed armed members of the opposition interacting with IDF across the ceasefire line in the vicinity of United Nations position 85.
Position 85 is located about 15 miles south of Quneitra and away from any Israeli population centers. It appears to have been a key crossing point for wounded Syrians seeking treatment in Israel. According to the eight previous UNDOF reports, covering the past two years, Syrian rebels often were the ones to hand over the wounded and receive them after treatment.
For example, the June 10, 2014 report details 59 incidents at Position 85 during which UNDOF observed armed members of the opposition transferring 89 wounded persons from the Bravo side across the ceasefire line to IDF and IDF on the Alpha side handing over 19 treated and 2 deceased individuals to the armed members of the opposition on the Bravo side.
At least some of those being treated are wounded fighters. In the spring of 2013, for example, after the permanent representative of Syria wrote to the UN secretary-general and the president of the Security Council about the reported transfer of injured Syrians to Israeli hospitals, the liaison officer of Israel informed UNDOF that IDF had provided emergency medical treatment to 20 armed members of the opposition.
It appears that the coordination may have other purposes as well. The June 2014 report notes on one occasion, UNDOF observed IDF on the Alpha side handing over two boxes to armed members of the opposition on the Bravo side.
When asked whether the Israeli military disputed UNDOFs reports of direct contact between the IDF and Syrian rebels and shown the relevant excerpts, an IDF spokesman said the military didnt have any comment on the UNs observations.
With the onset of the Syrian civil war in recent years, UN peacekeepers, monitoring the border with Israel, have been attacked multiple times by jihadist groups such as the al-Nusra Front, who have taken control of most of the Syrian side of the border.
In September, the United Nations secured the release of 45 UNDOF soldiers, kidnapped in August by the al-Qaeda-linked group, through the payment of a $25-million ransom by Qatar, an Israeli TV report said.
Nine hundred and thirty UN monitors remain stationed in the buffer zone, according to the UN website, although the force has abandoned many of its positions along the front and transferred its headquarters to Israel following the attacks, thus leaving the border free for rebel movement.
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