'They're no Zionists': How Syria's rebels toppled Assad and what it means for Israel

12/09/24 • 38 min

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The rapid collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has left Israel concerned about the future of what has been its quietest border in an era of continual instability and war, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that drove Assad out and has roots in Al-Qaeda and ISIS, takes charge.

"I suspect they will probably send signals to Israel directly or indirectly, that they're not interested in igniting anything there," Haaretz Podcast guest Hassan Hassan, editor-in-chief of New Lines Magazine, said.

Hassan, a Syrian-born journalist and author who has studied Islamist groups, believes that their posture towards Israel would be "cut from the same cloth" as Assad's, who "never really waged war against Israel since 1973."

Haaretz senior military analyst Amos Harel, also on the podcast, said that Israeli officials are wary of the group and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. According to Harel, the Syrian rebel leader currently "at least pretends to to have become more of a moderate. He doesn't talk like an extreme jihadist anymore. But don't think I'm buying into this, and neither are the Israeli intelligence community and the Israeli leadership."

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