/Correction/
Below I described the Islamist fighters covered by Israel in the Golan area as “ISIS”. The sole source for qualifying those fighters as “ISIS” was from the UNDOC report quoted below: “the appearance of “black flags”—a symbol associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham”.
“Black flags”, associated by the UN report with ISIS, are also used by Jabhat al-Nusra and some other Islamic groups fighting in Syria. Current reports of insurgency activities in Quneitra do not mention ISIS at all but only Jabhat al-Nusra, Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionary Front which all have a different ideologies and are under different command chains than ISIS. It is therefore likely that these groups, not ISIS, were the ones observed by the UN forces in the area.
I have therefor now replaced the “ISIS” description in the original piece below.
/end correction/
In yesterday’s post about attack plans against Damascus I mentioned Israeli cover fire for anti-Syrian Islamists occupying the Syrian side of the Golan demarcation zone:
This movement, […], was supported by Israeli artillery strikes against Syrian units that tried to prevent it.
In what looks like an attempted to cover up the obvious Israeli military help for Islamist anti-government fighters the Jerusalem Post today quoted Israeli intelligence using the Iranian Revolutionary Guard bogeyman to justify such attacks (original link seem unreliable, copy here – Israeli Intel: Iranian Revolutionary Guards Directed Attacks On Israeli Border From Syria):
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is present in Syria, directed a number of attacks by pro-Assad regime militias on Israel in recent months, according to Israeli intelligence evaluations.
In one such attack in June, a number of shells were fired by Syrian militias at IDF posts on Mount Hermon. There were no injuries or damages on the Israeli side, and the IDF responded by returning artillery fire.
That is quite a laughable tale. The story of that June incident is also definitely not what Israel told the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) which covered the area at that time:
On 17 June, Council members met to consider the 10 June UNDOF report, which detailed continued violations of the ceasefire line. […] This report indicated that UNDOF had begun to observe that the more violent aspects of the conflict were now evident in its area of operations, including the use of airstrikes by the government, the use of heavy weapons and captured military equipment by armed opposition groups and the appearance of “black flags”—a symbol associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
[…]
On 23 June, Israel targeted nine Syrian army positions with tank fire and air strikes after mortar fire from the Syrian side the previous day killed an Israeli civilian. Israel’s assessment is that most of these incidents are due to errant fire resulting from fighting in Syria. Israel said that armed opposition groups were probably responsible but that its forces fired on Syrian military positions to stress that Syria was responsible for security on its side of the ceasefire line.
There were ISIS “black flag” forces in the area fighting the Syrian army and some “errant fire” hit Israel. Israel suspected that ISIS “black flag” forces had fired the shells but responded by firing on Syrian government forces thereby helping ISIS “black flag” forces in its fight.
There were no ICRG force and no regime militias, only regular Syrian army troops. It were these troops that Israel attacked after ISIS “black flag” forces fired onto Israeli ground.
Similar happened on March 19:
Syria said one of its soldiers was killed and seven were injured when three army positions near the town of Quneitra were struck on the Syrian side of the cease-fire line between the two countries in the Golan Heights.
Israel said that the targets were an army training facility, a military headquarters and an artillery battery, and that the raid was a response to a bombing along the line Tuesday that injured four Israeli soldiers.
…
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Israel did not know whether the Syrian army, its ally Hezbollah or the rebels they are fighting may have been responsible for planting the bomb. But Israel holds the Syrian army responsible, he said.
“Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups took the Quneitra crossing, and heavy fighting with the Syrian army is continuing in the surrounding area,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
…
Israeli army forces – whose posts lie around 200 metres from Syrian posts – fired upon two Syrian army positions, responding to six mortar shells hitting the Israel-controlled portion of the territory.“In response to the errant fire from the internal fighting in Syria, which hit Israel earlier today and injured an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) officer, the IDF just targeted two Syrian army positions in the Syrian Golan Heights. Hits were confirmed,” it said in a statement.
The army did not specify whether the rocket fire came from the pro-government Syrian army or from opposition forces.
The Israeli army said it struck a Syrian military position on Thursday after presumed “errant fire” hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
…
A military spokeswoman told AFP it hit an open field without causing any damage or harm to anyone.“Initial reviews suggest that this was a result of errant fire from the internal fighting in Syria,” the statement said.
“In response, the IDF (Israel Occupation Forces) targeted a Syrian army position. Hits were confirmed.”
The common part of all these incidents is that some “errant fire” hits Israel while fighting between ISIS and the Syrian army is ongoing on the other side of the border. Israel always responds by shelling Syrian army position. This is of course direct military help to ISIS “black flag” fighters who might use such “errant fire” on Israel to receive the by now obviously predictable help against the Syrian army.
To now come out with a fantasy story involving the IRCG bogeyman and “pro-Assad regime militias” to cover up Israels direct help to ISIS “black flag” forces against the Syrian army is rather lame.