A Syrian opposition commander has accused Israel of working with Iran and Hezbollah to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in his two year effort to topple opposing forces, Turkish news network Today's Zaman reported on Sunday.
Abdulkader Saleh, a commander in the al-Tawhid Brigade of the Free Syrian Army told Today's Zaman that "Assad has protected Israel's border for 40 years,” and that is why "Iran and Hezbollah are cooperating with Israel to be able to support Assad" in Syria's raging civil war.
Despite previous media reports that last week's airstrikes in Syria were an Israeli initiative to aid rebel forces and stop Hezbollah from helping Assad attain destructive weapons, Saleh apparently told Zaman that these reports were false.
“The opposition was going to take over arms, so Israel attacked. There is evidence pointing to this," he reportedly said.
Saleh told Zaman that opposition forces had come in contact with several high ranking Syrian officials, who were persuaded to aid them in transfering weapons to the rebel fighters, and Israel acted accordingly in order to stop this transaction from occurring.
"This assault, of course, was intended to support the Assad administration,” Saleh allegedly said. "It is obvious that Iran and Hezbollah are also included in the Syrian war," Zaman reported him as saying while hinting at Israel's cooperation.