A top figure in Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Sima Shine, issued a statement on Sunday urging that Israel unconditionally back government change in Syria, no matter who replaces President Bashar Assad, simply to harm Iran.
“Israel’s main strategic threat is Iran, not Syria,” Shine declared, insisting that Israel should base all strategic policies on “what harms Iran”.
Shine rejected any results that would keep Mr. Assad in power, even in the weakest condition after the bloody war, because then “he’d be even more dependent on Iran”.
Shine conceded that this might mean handing Syria over to the al-Qaeda-linked militants, saying that there were “no good options” on Syria but that anything that really stuck it to Iran.
Iran has avoided interfering in the crisis in its neighboring Syria, while insisting on sticking to a political solution to end the conflict.
Syria crisis started as pro-reform protests but with interventions from the United States, Israel and their regional allies it soon turned to a massive insurgency which took in numerous terrorist groups from all over Europe and Middle East to wage one of the bloodiest wars the region has ever experienced.
The war, which many fear is turning to a “war of hatred”, has already taken more than 100,000 lives.
Israeli regime has been a key supporter of the unrest in Syria which has gripped the country for more than two years.
The regime has carried out at least three airstrikes on Syrian soil so far this year.
Tel Aviv’s provocative moves around Lebanon with its warplanes hovering over Beirut as well as its recent activities in the occupied Golan Heights have raised security concerns in regional countries.
Analysts believe that due to its deep involvement in the crisis, Israel cannot afford to settle with a condition in which President Assad remain in power even if that is the only way to stop the bloodshed.
Mr. Assad has said before that he cannot leave the country in the hands of extremist and terrorist groups that have created the cruelest scenes the country has ever witnessed.