Although Israel has repeatedly declared its determination not to get sucked into the civil war raging across the border with Syria, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon admitted Monday that the country was in fact doing more than just cheering on the good guys.
In a briefing to Israeli diplomatic reporters, Yaalon acknowledged that Israel was helping out selected rebel groups operating in Syria near the border of the Golan Heights. “We’ve assisted them on two conditions—that they don’t get too close to the border and don’t let Islamic extremists get too close and that they don’t touch the Druze.”
Some 130,000 Israelis are members of the Druze sect, an offshoot of Islam. Since the Syrian civil war began four years ago, Israel’s Druze have been concerned about the fate of their 600,000 brethren living in Syria, particularly those living in a village two miles away, Khader, easily visible from the border. Last week, mortar rounds could be seen exploding about a mile from the village where a battle was being fought between the Syrian army and the Free Syrian Army rebels.
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