Israeli airstrikes on Syria

Ironic - Israel Helps ISIS with Airstrikes Against the Syrian Government

By providing free air support for the Syrian rebels, Israel is actually helping ISIS approach its goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Not too smart.

SCG News,

23 June, 2014

Yesterday Israel launched airstrikes against Syria yet again, hitting at least military targets and killing several Syrian soldiers. These strikes were supposedly in response to a cross border rocket attack that left an Israeli teenager dead at the Golan Heights border. The reality of the matter however, is that there is no evidence that the Syrian government had any involvement in the initial rocket attack, and it is far more likely to be the work of the Syrian rebels.

Israel doesn't care. It's response was in keeping with their long standing policy which holds the Syrian government responsible for any attacks emanating from its territory, regardless of who actually carries them out. Kind of hard to control everything that happens inside your territory when you have the U.S. government and its allies arming and funding insurgents in an attempt to overthrow you don't you think?

The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the Israeli air strikes, referring to them as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty and a sign of the "direct and continuous support" that Israel is giving to rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The irony here, is that by launching airstrikes against the Syrian government in response to an attack that was most likely carried out by the Syrian rebels, Israel is actually encouraging future attacks like this. It's easy for the rebels to launch missiles across into Israel, and Israel's response is essentially free air support. So clearly it is in the rebel's interest to shoot over into the Israeli side as often as possible.

Israel's continued attacks on the Syrian government are particularly bizarre considering the current context. With ISIS rapidly gaining influence in both Iraq and Syria (they just took 4 new towns in Iraq over the weekend), it would behoove Israel to consider what would actually happen if Assad fell. Do they actually want a rabid extremist group to establish an Islamic caliphate on their border?

Sunday's attack wasn't the first time Israel has attacked Syrian forces during this conflict. In 2013 Israel launched airstrikes in May, July and October.

As of yet the U.N. and the rest of what the U.S. likes to call the "international community" have refrained from issuing any condemnation for the airstrikes.