DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 17, 2014, 6:07 PM (IDT)
The Syrian rebel militia Al Yarmouk Shuhada Brigades, backed and trained for two years by US officers, mostly CIA experts, in Jordan, and supported by the Israeli army, has abruptly dumped these sponsors and joined up with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, DEBKAfile’s exclusive military and counter-terrorism sources reveal.
The sudden defection of this 2,000-strong anti-Assad force leaves IDF defense formations on the Golan, US and Jordanian deployments in the northern part of the kingdom, and pro-Western rebel conquests in southern Syria in danger of collapse.
The Brigades’ jump into the radical jihadi camp was negotiated in the last two weeks by its commander Mousab Ali Qarfan, who also goes by the name of Mousab Zaytouneh. He was in direct contact with ISIS chief Abu Baqr Al-Baghdadi, whom our sources report has recently relocated from Iraq to his northern Syrian headquarters at al-Raqqa.
Unlike the Sinai Islamists, Ansar Beit al Maqdis, the Yarmouk Brigades did not pledge allegiance to ISIS. The ir pact was forged as an operational alliance, which is just as grave a peril for the rebel militias’ abandoned allies.
For Israel, in particular, the new development is fraught with three dangers:
1. The Yarmouk Brigades are strung out along Israel’s Golan border with Syria, from the UN peacekeepers camp opposite Kibbutz Ein Zivan (see map) in the north, down to the Israeli-Syrian-Jordanian border junction in the south. The Brigades therefore sit along 45 of the total 76 kilometers of the Syrian-Israeli border. This means that a long stretch of Israel’s Golan border with Syria has fallen under the control of the Islamic State.
2. This militia also commands sections of the Syrian-Jordanian border, as well as districts of the southern Syrian town of Deraa. Therefore, the link between Jordan and southern Syria, which served American strategic interests, is now under military threat.
3. Islamic State forces are preparing to take advantage of their new asset with a buildup near the Druze Mountains (see map) for a rapid push south towards the town of Deraa, where they will join forces with their new ally.
they are circling the drain, frantically trying to be a squeaking wheel looking for grease,….more rockets, more falling high rises, more dead gazans who want to hang hamas. Whats not to like
@ bernard ross:
It was a tie. The military proved indecisive and ill prepared including by sending to their death soldiers on known non standard APC’s. I did not hear of any commander resigning in protest.
Not just that but the only religious officer in there who mentioned Religion was reprimanded and yesterday “found” suspect of… (fill the gap).
The military command staff reflect in their incompetence or worse the line chosen by the political trash that selects them.
Felix Quigley Said:
Who you talking to? 😛
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66SMbvoPOuA
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Did the IDF command do bad in Gaza or was it the political directorate holding them back for political and diplomatic reasons?
yamit82 Said:
If the rebels turn their guns on Israel it will give Israel the opportunity to take more of the syrian golan as a buffer zone. In any case as long as Assad cannot claim control of the Border I dont see how he can maintain a claim for the Israeli golan. I suspect that Israel has been doing more that treating rebel wounds and giving them some supplies. I believe that if or when the gulf monarchies patch up their differences with Iran, that will be the time of a shift against Israel by their mercenaries. IS probably has higher wages than the others.
@ bernard ross:Based on the idf command performances in the Second Lebanon War and recently in Gaza, I am not at all convinced that any of the present command staff will do any better in the Golan.
@ Felix Quigley:
What would you choose a Virulent strain of Anthrax or Ebola???
@ bernard ross:
I agree and unlike Debka to use Hyperbole in such an irresponsible manner.
There is a military benefit to have them consolidate and concentrate in close specific areas. Easier to attack them and kill them.
this statement a bit much 😛
To whom and answer where Bennett stood on Assad and the Christians and Alawites?
Another tragic failure. In retrospect/ Why would anyone rely on or be associated with our leadership? It looks and acts infirm, old, tired, irresolute and worse.
Would be now time to switch gears?