Assad Won’t Use Chemical Weapons On Israel, Fears IDF Response

IDF military intelligence personnel are continuing to gather information about the gas attack in the northwestern Syrian town of Khan Shiekhoun which killed dozens of people, including many children, and trying to determine its implications for Israel’s security, the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Wednesday.

For now, Israeli defense officials told nrg, the assumption is still that Syrian President Bashar Assad would not use chemical weapons against the Jewish state, largely due to the fact he knows the price exacted by the IDF in response would be too high for his regime to bear.

Despite Tuesday’s attack in the Idlib Province — believed to have been carried out by the
Assad regime — Israel does not intend to renew the distribution of gas masks to its citizens, a process that was halted three years ago, the report said. However, the IDF Home Front Command will adjust its contingency plans regarding the distribution of gas masks in the Golan Heights if chemical weapons are used in the border region.
The Syrian airfield targeted by United States airstrikes early Friday was “almost completely destroyed,” a human rights group in the…

Israel’s gas mask production line remains open, even though they are no longer handed out, the report noted.

The Assad regime, the Israeli defense establishment assesses, maintains chemical weapons capabilities, despite the 2013 international agreement to remove such arms from Syria, according to the report. That deal, in Israel’s eyes, did reduce the chemical weapons threats it faces, even if not all were removed from Syria. Assad, Israel estimates, will use any such weapons in his possession against his own citizens, and not in the Israeli border area.

(C) 2017 . The Algemeiner Barney Breen-Portnoy

{Matzav}