Claims of Israeli support for Nusra Front-Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria-are in the news again. Israel is an ever so common target for Arab conspiracy theorists who claim Israeli ties to Daesh (ISIS), Al-Qaeda etc. but what exactly is Israel’s relationship with Nusra Front?
The latest media mention of the two came from Al Jazeera English’s UpFront. On May 31st, the show posted host Mehdi Hasan’s interview with Efraim Halevy-former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The two discussed Israel’s treatment of Nusra Front fighters. “It's always useful...to deal with your enemies in a humane way,” Halevy told Hassan.
In the interview, Hasan asked Halevy if there was any tactical coordination with the group, to which Halevy said “I didn't say there's no tactical (consideration). I said the main consideration, the immediate consideration is humane.” Halevy claimed Nusra Front does not pose the same risk to Israel that Hezbollah-an opponent of Nusra Front and Israel fighting alongside the Syria government-does, for example.
This is not the first time Israeli treatment of wounded Nusra fighters has been in the news. After an earlier U.N. report detailing contact between Israel and Syrian rebel groups, in December 2014, VICE News released a documentary on Israel’s treatment of Syrian civilians, Free Syrian Army fighters and other groups after Nusra Front seized control of Syria’s border with the Golan Heights.
At the time, VICE News found no evidence of specifically Nusra Front fighters being treated. On the other hand, in January 2015, an Al-Monitor article reported claims that Israel and Nusra Front were coordinating attacks on forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
More recently, The Daily Mail reported that Israel was treating Islamic militants in December 2015, but could not say definitively what group they were from.
Whatever Israel’s relationship with Nusra Front, it appears most evidence shows it’s primarily medical at this point.
--AL
