A report filed with the United Nations Security Council by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on Friday indicates that the IDF
acceded to a request by the Assad regime to hold its fire during Thursday's tank battle between government and rebel forces.
American journalist Nabil Abi Saab, who regularly covers United Nations activity in his blog UN-Report, on Saturday posted a copy of a document
apparently from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF), which monitors the ceasefire between Israel and Syria following
the 1973 Yom Kippur.
Saab writes in his blog that he was
informed by diplomats that the document was sent to the UN Security
Council on Friday, by Herve Ladsous, UN Under Secretary General for
Peacekeeping Operations. The report states that the IDF warned UNDOF that it would "take action" if Syrian army tanks continued to operate in the buffer zone.
After
receiving the message, the Syria regime asked that Israel refrain from
firing on its vehicles as "the presence of the tanks was solely for the
purpose of fighting the armed members of the opposition." Israel acceded
to the request, but did confirm that it had given medical treatment to
members of the Syria opposition wounded in the fighting.
The battle at the Quneitra crossing ended Thursday with the Syria regime regaining full control of the area.
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have been fighting for
more than two years against the opposition that is determined to unseat
him. More than 80,000 people are reported to have died since the
fighting began in early 2011.
What Assad doesn't get - or perhaps he gets it but refuses to act on or acknowledge it - is that all Israel really wants is to be left to live in peace. If he and his father had sought to work with Israel for the last 40 years rather than constantly being on the verge of trying to destroy it, the entire relationship between the two countries could have been different.
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