Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the Golan Heights border on Thursday morning. Following are the statements he made to the media.

“We are on the Golan Heights, facing Jubata Al Khashab which is just a little less than one kilometer from here. We can see the fighting from here, the mortar shells; we can hear the echoes of the bullets of the battle between the Syrian army and the rebel groups; the revolutionary fighters and the opposition parties.

“Two hundred meters south, we can see the UN, and eight hundred meters west there is the border fence. It just shows to what extent the disintegration of the regime is far from abstract, it is real, and it is getting closer. What happened yesterday in Damascus will catalyze the fall of the Assad family. The officials killed were very close to the regime… This attack is a serious blow to the radical axis, both to Iran and Hezbollah; the only supporters of the Assad family.

“As much as the rebels are disorganized, they are taking more and more risks to get into the fight, not only from protected positions, but also in large cities, including Damascus. They hold large parts of Syria under their control. We are witnessing the world calling for a ceasefire, but it does not do a thing.

“For us Israelis, who live near Syria, there is a lesson to take away which is not simple… even when the worst of atrocities are being perpetrated, people being slaughtered…We remember the pictures of the children’s graves, the tanks, the artillery and the combat helicopters being used against the people by the state…(That echo we hear is the mortar shells on the other side of the frontier)…and yet the world still stays silent. It cannot manage to put together a coalition, and has neither the will nor the political power to act.

“The Assad regime is getting to the point whereby it will fall and no one knows what will happen next. There are different actors out there. There are those who have opposed the regime for a long time; there are deserters from the Syrian army; there are those who came from outside, that were called for help and came; there are members of the global Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaeda; and the longer we wait, the more difficult and chaotic the situation will become after Assad’s fall.

“We obviously are not the only player in the region that is anxious; anxious about the fact that an anarchic situation will bring about the transfer of sensitive systems into the wrong hands. There is no small amount of chemical weapons dispersed all around the country and there is a lot of weaponry in the hands of the civilians. The rebel forces started attacking and taking over military bases and are seizing weapons for their own use. They are not organized like a joint coalition force. I don’t think they all know each other, nor do they act together. Each group is attempting, from its own particular stance, to bring the bloody Assad’s family regime to an end.

“It is an opportunity to see them here… The commanders of the divisions, the people…It is one of the closest observation points to the clashes, maybe the only one.

“We are monitoring two main elements. The possibility that during the fall of the Assad’s regime, Hezbollah will try to smuggle – from Syria to Lebanon – advanced weapons systems, or heavy ground-to-ground missiles, or even chemical weapons; thus we will remain vigilant.

“On the Golan Heights itself we are paying attention to the possibility of incoming refugee waves that are already knocking on their neighbors’ doorsteps. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have already fled to Turkey. 140,000 refugees have also escaped the fighting to Jordan. For the meantime they haven’t chosen to come to Israel, but during the fall of the regime it could well happen. We remember the events of last year. We need to act with vigilance and remain alert. Some lessons have already been internalized and we have improved the fence and the security system in general. I can see that the troops here are alert and closely monitoring [the situation]; and if we have to stop waves of refugees, that is what we will do.

“We also estimate that the longer the civil war lasts; the greater the resentment, the greater the will for vengeance, and the greater the anger between the sides. Assad’s fall could therefore lead to a continuous civil war and chaos. In this situation we could also find ourselves with the Golan Heights serving as a new platform from which terrorists could launch attacks against Israel. Therefore we need to have a quiet presence in this area, and be both alert and ready [for each and every scenario].”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)