ISRAEL has the right to bomb Syria in the wake of the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to the UK Government.
Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has backed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s bombing campaign in the Middle Eastern country, which has been captured by rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Syria finds itself in an incredibly volatile moment, with Assad having fled to Russia, ending his family’s 54-year rule over the country.
Israel has bombed Syrian suspected chemical weapons sites and fired long-range missiles into the country in what it said were efforts to prevent them from falling into the hands of “extremists”.
The US military has said it has bombed Daesh targets in Syria.
McFadden on Israel bombing Syria: its "making sure its position in the Golan is secure" "thats supported by the UK?" McFadden "We will always support Israels right to defend itself & make itself secure" So Israel can occupy neighbouring countries to "make itself secure"? pic.twitter.com/656bZ5OwgN
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) December 9, 2024
Asked on Sky News whether the UK Government backed Israel’s bombing campaign, McFadden said Netanyahu was acting to “secure” the country’s position in the Golan Heights – which has been described as an illegal occupation by the UN security council.
He said: “What I think Israel is doing is making sure its position in the Golan is secure. One of the things to note about this is, this has partly happened because of Israeli action against Iranian proxies around the region and that has left Iran weakened and that is partly why the Assad regime has fallen.
"So the action that Israel has taken over the last few days will be to make sure that its position in the Golan is secure.”
Host Kay Burley asked whether Israel’s position was “supported” by the UK and McFadden replied: “We will always support Israel’s right to defend itself and make itself secure.”
In a video message on Twitter/X, Netanyahu said Israel's invasion of Syria was a "temporary" measure to fill positions which had been abandoned by the Assad regime's military.
He described the collapse of the Syrian government as a "great opportunity" and added: "We gave the Israeli army the order to take over these [abandoned] positions to ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel.
"This is a temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found.
"Equally, we send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria, to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the Christians and to the Muslims who want to live in peace with Israel."
The Israeli prime minister added it was Israel's "desire" to establish "neighbourly" relations with whoever takes over from Assad, adding: "But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the state of Israel and the border of Israel."
McFadden (below), doing the morning broadcast rounds for the Government, also fielded questions on whether the UK would end its classification of HTS – which began as an offshoot of al Qaida – as a terrorist organisation.
The US Government in 2017 offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification of HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
Golani has since cut ties with al Qaida and has sought to present his group as moderate.
McFadden indicated that HTS could be reclassified with a “relatively swift decision” if the UK Government had to hold talks with the group.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The leader of that group has distanced himself away from some of the things that have been said in the past. He is saying some of the right things about the protection of minorities, about respecting people’s rights. So we’ll look at that in the days to come.”
This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers. We send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria: to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the… pic.twitter.com/yJZE3AZZJn
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 8, 2024
McFadden added: “We don’t know what will happen in Syria right now, whether it’s going to be a better future for the country, or whether it’s going to be more chaos, no one can be certain about that right now.
“But obviously, if the situation stabilises, there’ll be a decision to make about how to deal with whatever new regime is in place there.”
The speed of the fall of the Assad regime caught out many international observers after years of bloody civil war between an array of groups and the Syrian military.
The Russian war in Ukraine and Iran’s involvement in conflicts between its proxies and Israel meant two of Assad’s leading backers were preoccupied with their own difficulties, contributing to weakness in the Syrian regime.
McFadden told Sky News: “We know that a brutal regime has fallen, we know this has been bad for Russia and Iran, who were the people propping up that regime and decided that either they wouldn’t or couldn’t prop it up any longer, and the future is very uncertain.”
