Arming Syria militants complicated question for Israel: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out the possibility of arming foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government.

“We are very careful… I have said that the arming of rebels presents the question of which rebels and which arms, and it is a very complicated question for… Israel,” Netanyahu said in a television interview broadcast on Thursday.

On the same day, Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Ja’afari accused the Israeli regime of assisting the Syrian militants.

“Israel [has a] partnership with… terrorist groups, allowing those armed groups to cross the separation line in the occupied Syrian Golan [Heights], treating their wounded in Israeli hospitals and returning them to the Syrian territory through the separation line anew,” Ja’afari said.

The Israeli regime’s key allies, including the United States and Jordan, are already assisting the foreign-sponsored militants in Syria.

Following the interview, an Israeli expert identified as Moshe Maoz said it would make sense for Tel Aviv to supply the militants with arms in coordination with Turkey.

Tel-Aviv has recently moved to repair its strained ties with Ankara.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

Damascus says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.