A Political leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, based in Syria, stated that Damascus allegedly granted the Front an unofficial green light to attack Israeli targets from Syrian territory.Anwar Raja, told the Associated Press that although the green light has been granted, there has never been an official statement by the Syrian government in this regard.
Furthermore, the official Syrian TV reported that Damascus would not stop any Palestinian armed group from attacking Israel, mainly targets in the occupied Golan Heights.
A Syrian diplomat said that Israel crossed red lights by attacking the Syrian Scientific Research Facility, and a Syrian Air Force brigade. The attacks were not the first of their kind against Syrian targets.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, interviewed a source in the PFLP-GC who said that the recent development is a symbolic move meant to express Syrian support for the Palestinians, and is not a call for war with Tel Aviv; as such a war could ignite the entire region.
The source’s statements came in response to reports published by a major Syrian newspaper claiming that President Bashar Assad and his regime have given a green light to all armed Palestinian groups, stationed in the country, to attack Israel.
The Al-Watan newspaper reported that Syria is still committed to granting Palestinian armed groups in the country with all needed weapons, and even gave them, according to the report, a list of targets in the Golan.
It also said that Syria even deployed army officers near the border, and instructed them to act against any Israeli act of aggression, and that the army also deployed missile launchers that could strike certain targets in Israel, should Israel attack Syria again.
According to Haaretz, the PFLP-GC source said that he does not believe an escalation is about to take place, and that the reported green light is “only a statement meant to sending a message to Tel Aviv that Syria will not allow Israel to attack it.”
The source further stated that Israel sent message to Syria through Russia, informing the Syrian leadership that Tel Aviv wants to reduce tension in the region, and that both Tel Aviv and Damascus want to practice restraint, Haaretz reported.
