Report: Israeli military men with Turkish army on the borders of Syria

Defense information circles in Britain on Thursday revealed the presence of Israeli military experts with the Turkish forces, which have been stockpiling since last week along the northern Syrian borders.

The sources told the London-based "al-Muharrir News" on Friday that some 22 Israeli military experts who participated with Turkish Army leaders during June 1997 in drawing the main lines to establish the Turkish security belt, that was not officially announced and has become a de facto in the Kurdish areas in parallel to the Turkish borders in Northern Iraq since the beginning of this year, arrived last Saturday in Ankara.

Meanwhile, the British intelligence bulletin "Foreign Report" quoted reports released by Jane's defense institution in its Wednesday issue that the Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai dispatched to Ankara a military official from the Israeli military intelligence, "Aman," carrying photographs taken by the Israeli satellite "Horizon 4." It said the photos give a clear picture to the Turkish Army about the Syrian forces on the borders with Turkey and other updated information collected by unit 8300 Aman intelligence about the Syrian army.

The bulletin added that the director general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Eilan Beran, visited Ankara two weeks earlier, before the eruption of the current crisis with Damascus in order to coordinate with the Turks against the Syrians.

However, the Israeli Prime Minister gave orders to reduce the number of the Israeli troops in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as a signal to Damascus in that Israel has no intention to launch an attack against Syria, following US reports released last week that Israeli forces are preparing to open a military front with Syria in the south, whenever the Turkish military operations start in the north.