Yossi Melman/J.Post: Netanyahu’s admission to Syrian attacks leaves more questions than answers/Israel signals no opposition to Egypt’s return of islands to Saudi Arabia/

Israel signals no opposition to Egypt’s return of islands to Saudi Arabia
Reuters/April 12/16

Israel signaled on Tuesday it did not oppose the return of two Red Sea islands in a strategic strait to Saudi Arabia by Egypt, with one senior lawmaker seeing a chance to get closer to Riyadh, with which Israel has no formal peace agreement. The islands of Tiran and Sanafir, located at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, will be formally demarcated as being in Saudi waters under a treaty announced on Saturday by Cairo, which has had de facto control over them since 1950. In 1967, Egypt blocked the strait of Tiran, a move that prompted Israel to launch the Middle East war. In its later peace deal with Israel, Cairo promised to respect freedom of shipping in Aqaba and Eilat, a commitment that Saudi Arabia says it will uphold when it takes over the islands. Eilat is Israel’s only port in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. A powerful lawmaker in the premier’s rightist Likud party said the treaty would not threaten Israel. “It relates to us and it does not bother us,” the lawmaker, Tzachi Hanegbi, who heads parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee, told Israel’s Army Radio in an interview. “The Saudis, who are committed to freedom of shipping under international law, will not harm the essence of the agreement between Egypt and us in this regard and freedom of shipping in Aqaba and Eilat will remain as is.”Some Israeli commentators suggested that the islands treaty, and a related plan to build a bridge linking Saudi Arabia to Egypt, might make it easier for militants to reach the Sinai. Hanegbi dismissed this as “paranoid anxiety” and welcomed the closing of ranks by Sunni Arab states that share Israeli hostility to Shiite power Iran and its Lebanese guerrilla ally Hezbollah, as well as to Islamist insurgents racking the region. “We have an interest in expanding the cooperation in the Sunni axis, which is struggling against the radical axis headed by Iran,” said Hanegbi a long-time Netanyahu confidant. “The more the Saudis, and the Gulf states in general, connect to the countries with which we are at peace and create with them a strategic front against ISIS, Iran, Hezbollah, against all the players that are our actual enemies, ultimately the effect will be unifying and not weakening.” For its part, Riyadh is keeping a frosty posture to Israel. “There will be no direct relationship between the kingdom and Israel due to the return of these islands,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Egypt’s CBC television on Sunday. But in an apparent allusion to Egyptian-Israeli relations, he added: “There is an agreement and commitments that Egypt accepted related to these islands, and the kingdom is committed to these.”

Analysis: Netanyahu’s admission to Syrian attacks leaves more questions than answers
Yossi Melman/Jerusalem Post/12 April/16
For years, Israel’s Military Censor has prevented journalists from reporting about Israel Air Force strikes in Syria aimed at foiling the transfer of advanced weapons to the Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah. But, on Monday, while attending an IDF tour on the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Israel has attacked dozens of weapons deliveries on their way to Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. “We act when we should act, including here, across the border, in dozens of attacks, to prevent Hezbollah from getting game-changing weaponry,” the premier said, referring mainly to long-range missiles, as well as anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems.While it’s true that Israeli media have reported on past Syrian operations, this was done on the condition that the information was sourced from “foreign reports.”
It is more than likely that Netanyahu had not discussed the revelations with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon or IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, neither of whom accompanied the premier on his sojourn in the North. It is not the first time Netanyahu has alluded to Israeli operations in Syria, however. In December 2015, he stated: “Israel is operating to prevent Syria’s transformation into a front fighting against us.”Yet, it was Monday’s clear admission regarding Israel Air Force operations against Hezbollah targets that has undermined the military’s effort to keep such actions out of the media. It is difficult to know whether the prime minister decided to expose the secret information after a comprehensive debate with authorized security officials – mainly Eisenkot, Ya’alon and IDF intelligence officials – nor why he chose now to reveal such details.
Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: The situation in Syria has not changed considerably over the past several months apart from the existence of a fragile cease-fire between the Assad regime and the rebel factions, which does not apply to Islamic State or the Nusra Front. Thus, Netanyahu’s declarations on Monday have left observers scratching their heads, wondering why he exposed such sensitive information. There was a healthy logic in the Israeli “ambiguity” policy regarding the attacks in Syria that aimed to achieve military goals by destroying supplies of advance weapons while not claiming responsibility so as to not humiliate Syria or Hezbollah and, thus, reduce their temptation to respond. In any case, it is clear that the situation on Israel’s border on the Golan Heights has not changed and, therefore, the prime minister’s statement is surprising.
Clearly, the Assad regime and Hezbollah will not like Netanyahu’s remarks. His comments portray them as weak for not responding to the Israeli air strikes. Obviously, Bashar Assad and Hezbollah have no desire or intention, even if they have the capability, to attack Israel on the grounds of violating Syria’s sovereignty, or what is left of it. However, given the fragile balance of threats and intimidation between Israel on the one hand, and the Shi’ite Lebanese terrorist group along with the Damascus regime on the other, the premier took a big risk with his remarks. This is not the first time that Netanyahu has decided to reveal state secrets suddenly and for no apparent reason, except to clip proverbial political coupons. He has divulged classified information more than once over the past two decades. Once, when serving as the leader of the opposition, Netanyahu disclosed a leaked Knesset document attributed to IDF Brig-Gen.
Zvi Shtauber regarding alleged plans for a meeting in Washington between then-IDF chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and his Syrian counterpart.