Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Israel “preparing to take in Syria refugees,” army chief says


Israel is preparing to receive Syrian Alawite refugees on the occupied Golan Heights if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad collapses, Israel's army chief of staff said on Tuesday.

"On the day the Assad regime falls, it is expected to harm the Alawite clan. We are preparing to receive Alawite refugees on the Golan Heights," Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told MPs at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense, in remarks communicated by a spokesman.

"It is impossible to predict in the current situation what is going to happen the date after the fall of Bashar al-Assad," he said of the Syrian leader.
Assad's government is engaged in a bloody crackdown against pro-democracy activists, which the United Nations says killed more than 5,000 people in 2011.

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