China-Syria Equipment deal worries Israel

Beijing, China:

There are grave concerns in Israel’s security establishment, setting off “alarm bells,” as Israeli officials reportedly fear the equipment will be used to enhance Damascus’s intelligence capabilities, according to media reports.

Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) while citing a report by news site Breaking Defense, said, that Israel’s security establishment is worrisome over the deal between the two nations.

Breaking Defense is a media outlet which focuses on the strategy, politics and technology of defence. It analyzes, perspectives and insights on news developments that military, political and industry decision-makers rely upon.

According to Israeli sources who spoke with Breaking Defence said that while the exact nature of the Chinese products remains unknown, they are expected to “fill current gaps in Syria’s military communications network.”

Another source said that Israel has indications that Chinese experts in recent months visited Syrian military installations that were damaged heavily during the civil war. “We believe that many [facilities] of the Syrian army will be rebuilt by the Chinese, who have the capability of bringing in thousands of workers to complete the work in the shortest time,” the source was quoted as saying in the report.

On the other hand, the Chinese state media outlet, Xinhua, said the assistance was meant to “improve local network infrastructure, especially in those areas hit hard during the Syrian crisis since 2011.”

China has donated tens of millions of dollars in aid to war-torn Syria over the past decade, the outlet said. Last month, the Syrian Foreign Ministry urged the UN Security Council to condemn the repeated Israeli missile strikes in Syria, particularly the latest one that killed three soldiers.

In a statement, the ministry said the UN should shoulder its responsibility in condemning the attacks and exert pressure on Israel to abide by The Agreement on Disengagement, reached in Geneva in 1947 which stipulates in its first paragraph a cease-fire on land, sea, and air between Syria and Israel.

The statement said Syria preserves its right to respond to the Israeli strikes by the appropriate means in accordance with international law and the UN charter. The statement came in the wake of the Israeli missile strike that was carried out, targeting military sites in the capital Damascus which killed three soldiers and wounded seven others.

A Syrian military statement issued after the strike indicated that the missiles were fired by Israeli forces from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, targeting military sites in the vicinity of the capital Damascus.

It said the Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles before reaching their targets. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Israeli missiles targeted Air Force Intelligence offices, a high-ranking officer’s office, and a car in the area of the Mezzeh Military Airport west of Damascus.

The strike is the 18th on Syrian territory since the beginning of 2022. As per reports, Israel has repeatedly targeted Syrian military sites during the 11-year Syrian civil war under the pretext of targeting pro-Iran militias.