Throughout most of the civil war in Syria, Israel has maintained a more or less consistent policy. Now, in light of the Assad regime’s successes, assisted by Russia and Iran, Israel’s approach to events in Syria seems about to change. The change will not be translated into military action, but it is clear that the progress of the regime and its supporters, coupled with a lack of initiative by Western countries, are sources of concern and criticism in Jerusalem.

So far, while paying lip service publicly to the suffering of the Syrian people in the civil war, which next month will have been raging for five years, Israel has not come out for any side and has kept its involvement to a relative minimum, focusing on defending interests it regards as essential.

Israel has pledged to respond militarily to any attack on its territory (and did so on a number of occasions). It also said it would act to stop the smuggling of advanced weaponry from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon (and according to foreign media reports, has indeed done so on numerous occasions). Israel also offered humanitarian aid to villages on the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights. In exchange, local rebel Sunni militias have kept extremist organizations that could attack Israel away from the areas under their control.

Read the article in full at Haaretz.