Syrian official accuses Israel of sending troops to Syria

Israel is aiding rebel fighters in the Syrian war by sending undercover troops to fight in Syria, Syrian political and media adviser to President Bashar Al-Assad; Bouthaina Shaaban claimed on Monday.

“The Syrian government has confirmed information that Israel sent undercover troops to Syria to monitor the fighting. Some of them have been wounded and were treated in Israel,” Shaaban told Al-Mayadeen channel.

She denied having relations with the Jordanian government over proposed plans to attack Damascus from the southern front; arguing that “it was hard to believe that this large number of militants penetrates the Syrian territory from Jordan without the Jordanian authorities’ knowledge”.

Shaaban urged Saudi Arabia to stop financing and supporting opposition militants; claiming that the director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has failed in the task entrusted to him in Syria and that Riyadh “finances Saudis militants and supports different factions of fighters including many foreigners”.

On relations with Turkey, Shaaban denied having mediation efforts with Syria’s northern neighbour; but welcomed “Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s new position on Syria. We want Erdogan’s Government to close the border and stop arms and fighters from passing to Syria.”

Shaaban also denied having Iranian mediation between the Syrian government and Hamas saying “Hamas preferred to be affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood over resistance. The Syrian crisis has kept us from the Palestinian cause. When Hamas abandoned the resistance; it weakened the Palestinian cause.”

She went on to urge the UN envoy to the Syrian crisis Lakhdar Brahimi “to illustrate in his report which team hampered and disrupted the negotiations” stressing that “the goal of the Geneva conference was to stop bloodshed in Syria and not to have mere meetings.

“The Syrian people are concerned about the return of security and getting rid of terrorism. They want their normal life back,” she concluded.