The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Tel Aviv has conducted contacts with the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through the WhatsApp application in recent years.
The newspaper stated that “in recent years, Israel has carried out covert operations to establish contacts with Assad and his entourage,” adding, “Israeli intelligence agents sent messages via WhatsApp under the name ‘Musa,’ which reached the highest levels in Damascus.”
The report, published on Friday, continued: “There were also other operations aimed at reaching a secret deal with Israel, under which Assad would halt the transfer of weapons to Lebanon in exchange for lifting international sanctions on the ousted Syrian regime.”
The newspaper further revealed that “by the end of 2019, Bashar al-Assad was supposed to meet former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen in the Kremlin, but the ousted Syrian president backed out.”
It noted that the messages were sent from the Israeli military intelligence division (Aman) via WhatsApp to then-Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abbas following Israeli airstrikes on targets described as “Iranian or belonging to Hezbollah in Syria.”
Following Assad’s escape and the announcement by opposition factions of his regime’s fall on December 8, classified documents came to light indicating that the Israeli intelligence agency had sent text messages to the former Syrian defense minister via WhatsApp. Among those messages were warnings to government forces at the time not to interfere with Israeli strikes on Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Lebanese Hezbollah sites.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
