Rebels take Golan Heights crossing

[Jefferson23]

Aug. 27, 2014 | 02:03 PM (Last updated: August 27, 2014 | 02:35 PM)

Agence France Presse

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels, including Al-Qaeda's affiliate Nusra Front, seized control of the Syrian crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Wednesday, an activist group said.

"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.

He said at least 20 soldiers and four rebels were killed in the fighting for the crossing that began earlier Wednesday.

The heavy fire strayed across the border into the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan, where the army said an Israeli officer was moderately wounded.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Aug-27/268671-syrian-rebels-seize-control-of-qunaitra-crossing-into-golan-heights-activists.ashx#ixzz3BbJFHyCs
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

[bemildred]

1. Peace in Gaza… but now Israel faces attack to the east after Al Qaeda fighters seize crossing with S

The seven-week Gaza conflict halted last night, but now Israel faces attacks on another front after Al-Qaeda's Syrian wing the Nusra Front and the Western-backed Free Syrian Army seized control of the crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It was a fierce battle with President Bashar Assad's forces that left 20 government soldiers and four rebels dead, and an Israeli officer wounded.

The capture of the Quneitra crossing on Syria's de facto border in the Golan - the only official crossing between Syria and Israel - held more symbolic value than strategic, but rebels said it would provide relief to nearby villages that were under siege by government troops.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2735706/Peace-Gaza-Israel-faces-attack-East-Al-Qaeda-fighters-seize-crossing-Syria.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

[Jefferson23]

2. Amidror: Israel's red line with Syria is the border, and if anyone crosses it they should be killed

Former National Security Council head says if Nusra Front takes control of Golan Heights, threats of radical Islam will not stop on frontiers of Israel, but spread out to Western countries.

With the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria wing, now reportedly in control of the Quneitra crossing between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights, Israel must be very clear about its red lines, former National Security Council head Ya'akov Amidror said Wednesday.

“As in the previous battles between the Assad regime and the rebels, we are not in position to determine the fight or the processes in Syria,” Amidror said in a conference call organized by The Israel Project.

But, he added, “We should be very clear about our red lines: no one will cross the border, and if someone will try, we will kill him.”

Likewise, he said, Jerusalem needs to make it clear that “if someone will use rockets or artillery toward Israel, our retaliation will be immediate, and it doesn't matter if it will be the Syrian regular army or the rebels. From our point of view there is a very clear red line, and this is the border. We should not interfere on the other side of the border to save [either] one of the two sides.”

Amidror did say, however, that Israel should “be in a position to help on the basis of humanitarian needs” anyone injured or wounded Israel has established a field hospital on the Golan Heights.

Amidror said that Israel might be the West's “front” in facing the radical Islamic movements.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Amidror-Israels-red-line-with-Syria-is-the-border-and-if-anyone-crosses-it-they-should-be-killed-372521