Senior IDF officials do not trust the veracity of messages emanating from the new bosses in Damascus, led by the tall, bearded Ahmad al-Shara Abu, who has taken the name Muhammad al-Julani, and is formerly an operative of al-Qaeda.
In a confidential meeting held this week at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, two high-ranking Military Intelligence Service officers said that as far as they were concerned, al-Julani’s goodwill offensive was a show, and sooner or later the new regime would turn against Israel.
“Our working assumption is that his attitude towards Israel is that of an enemy and that ultimately the rebel regime will be hostile toward us,” the intelligence officers told the committee. Committee MKs told the officers that “Israel cannot accept a Nazi regime on its border that would lead to red alerts in Katzrin (Known as the Capital of the Golan – DI).”