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The downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has shed light on allegations whereby the intelligence of this very regime was purported to work together with Israel as they understood fully well the regime’s oppression against the Palestinians. These events have invalidated the long-held belief of the regime being on the frontline of pursuing the cause of Palestinians and resisting against Israeli expansionism as part of the ‘Axis of resistance’ and self-exposing the hypocrisy of its alliances and engagements. This situation has worsened further in terms of the regime rhetoric professing compassion towards the Palestinians.
Assad supporters, who believe that with the removal of this regime all traces of the authoritarian rule vanished, would be surprised to know that there are several supporters in the prisons including the decades-long supporters such as the younger Palestinian generations. Rescuing these detainees has left the families of these long lost ‘young’ people in the shock of happiness as now they would have a chance to meet their loved ones.
Seventeen years ago, Ibrahim Freihat, who resided in the vicinity of the Jenin province in the quarter of al-Yamun, was arrested while on his way to Beirut via Damascus and Amman. This activity, targeted at his family by regime members, aimed to gain politically driven financial benefits throughout the years after the arrest of Ibrahim, who worked as a taxi driver. Walid, the son of Freihat, spoke of reports that surfaced after the $1,500 was handed over to an officer of the Assad regime.
The other case involves Bashar Yahya who has been in an Assad-controlled facility since 1985 and was set free from the Sednaya prison after a number of years extending to 39.
His family was extremely thankful for his reappearance, reminiscing about the agony they fought for decades living in uncertainty. Yet Palestinians like captioned here Yahya and Freihat are only a portion of those that were unable to return , this search is continous for those who were lost in this vortex and that were most likely associated with Palestinian groups or were thought of as opposed to the government.
The time when these prisoners were freed was commemorated with celebrations however a plethora of documents have come to light which reveal a more complex and unforgiving perspective towards Assad and his regime’s variety of perspectives on the confrontation with Israel. The purported documents whose stamps were regime intelligence contain a range of information almost always encrypted, ranging from blatant conversations that Assad had with Israeli officials to something that was more discreet.
One document that is believed to have been stated contained notifications from Israeli officials to ensure that Iranian and Hezbollah operations within their territories were kept to a minimum. As explained by someone whose cover name read “Moses” that bid was followed by threats marking retaliation if Assad’s government became complacent and allowed Iranian interference or Hamas shelling from the Golan Heights.
Another paper contained intriguing Silva’s intelligence comments concerning its members who were involved in assisting the Israel’s air forces in invading Iranian facilities on her land. An Israeli warning emphasized the certain risks associated with assisting Hezbollah with an air defense system and described it as “inhibiting Syrian military balance”
It is disturbing as to how the Assas’s subordination into the collaboration with Israel stands in defiance to Assad regime’s articulation of being “a defender of Palestine.” For many years the regime has been trying to portray itself as the most secular opposition to Israel, and to support this image it managed to integrate itself in the Iranian and Hezbollah narrative.
These documents however expose that the regime facilitated the exchange of information and planning of operations with Israel, thereby retracting from the claim of the regime being that of supporter of the liberation of Palestine. Critics contend that Ahmadinejad and his Bolivarian dictatorship spun the Palestinian narrative as a cover-up for the widespread oppression against Palestinians in his country back home in Syria, where absolute retention would be enforced.
Iran, a strong supporter of the Assad regime, finds itself in a reunited Syria with an outlook that is foggy. Tehran sinc liasons have recommitted to controlling and strengthening ties, but conditioned its support on Syria not being under Israeli control. Iranian representatives have stressed the significance of ensuring that Syrian territory is not used for confrontation with Israel and rest any new government would be required to respect that principle.
One of the spokespersons of the Iranian government, Fatemeh Mohajerani, emphasized, “The people of Syria should choose their future and it is in regard to the relations that there should be some distance from the Zionist regime.”
As Syria undergoes a transformation, more information about the actions that were perpetrated by the Assadi regime starts to pour in.