US-Israel Accord to Support Coordinated Air Ops in Syria
A US-Israel defense agreement will support coordinated air power in Syria if and when the Israel Air Force (IAF) is tasked to operate in close proximity to American-led coalition air forces.
The bilateral accord was signed more than a year ago, sources here said, as part of Pentagon planning for prospective air strikes against chemical weapon-related sites then serving the Syrian regime.
In interviews here, defense sources said the agreement codified coordination procedures for scenarios where US and Israeli aircraft may need to operate simultaneously in Syrian airspace.
It was put on the “shelf,” an Israeli official here said, after the Russian-led effort to remove, destroy and otherwise deny Syrian President Bashar el-Assad’s illegal use of mass destruction weaponry.
But in the run-up to US President Barack Obama’s air power-based strategy to degrade and deny terrorist hegemony of the militant group Islamic State (IS), the official said the accord provides “a relevant mechanism” for potential operations in Syria.
The official underscored that while Israel principally supports Obama’s call for a united front against IS and all forms of radical terror, Israel’s primary concern is preventing Assad’s strategic arsenal from reaching the hands of Hezbollah allies fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime.
Israel has not publicly acknowledged at least three attacks in the past 18 months on Syrian soil or directly across its border with Lebanon with a strike targeting suspected strategic missile cargo en-route to Hezbollah.
“We needed a mechanism for situations where we could find ourselves operating in the same domain as other international interests,” an Israeli general officer told Defense News.
“It’s not for joint planning or coordinated air operations in the classical sense… but it will help enormously with deconfliction,” the officer added.
In an address to the Herzliya-based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism’s annual conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “was playing our part” in responding to Obama’s calls to confront IS.
“Israel fully supports President Obama’s call for united actions against ISIS…. Some of the things are known; some things are less known.”
Netanyahu claimed the shared threat from the radical Sunni IS and Iranian-led radical Shiite groups has prompted Sunni states in the region to “reevaluate their relationship with Israel.”
“They understand that Israel is not their enemy but their ally in the fight against this common enemy. And I believe this presents an opportunity for cooperation and perhaps an opportunity for peace,” Netanyahu said.
But Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog assailed Netanyahu’s claims of regional unity in the face of common threats as disingenuous due to his government’s unwillingness or inability to pursue a Palestinian peace deal.
Israel is “definitely out there behind the scenes” working to contain ISIS, but it should be taking a prominent and public role in the planned US-led coalition, Herzog told Voice of Israel radio Sept. 14.
“Israel should be a pillar in the coalition operating against ISIS,” Herzog said. But this can’t happen until the Israeli government seizes its “unique opportunity to change circumstances of the region.”
“Especially after the Gaza war, we saw a convergence of interests with Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf States and the Palestine Authority,” said the leader of Israel’s opposition Labor Party.
“I criticize the prime minister for lacking imagination and for not deciding to be proactive in initiating a chance for peace,” he said.
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