The death of a Syrian intelligence official – allegedly by Israeli sniper fire – could mark a new phase in Israel's war against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.
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Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that Madhat al-Saleh – senior adviser to President Bashar Assad – was fatally shot on Saturday in Ein el-Tinneh, a village along the Israeli border in the Golan Heights where he ran a government office. According to Al-Jazeera, he was shot dead by an Israeli sniper.
Israeli media said Al-Saleh had been working with Iran to establish a front against Israel on the Golan border.
The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the matter, but if the Syrian claim is true, it would mark the first time Israeli snipers have been known to kill an Iranian-linked target across the border. The alleged assassination might be part of Jerusalem's ongoing efforts to prevent permanent Iranian military presence on the Golan border for attacks against Israel.
Al-Saleh had previously spent 12 years in an Israeli prison for security-related crimes. A year after his release in 1997, he moved to Syria, was elected to the parliament, and served as an adviser to the government, focusing on the country's efforts to regain the Golan Heights, which have been under Israeli control since 1967.
Yoel Guzansky – a senior fellow and expert on Iran at the Institute for National Security Studies – said it was not a sure thing that Israel had even been involved and that Al-Saleh was not an especially valuable target and also had tense relations with Iranian proxy Hezbollah and objected to the group's activities in the Golan.
But he said that if Israel had indeed killed Al-Saleh through an unprecedented sniper attack, it sent a powerful message to Iran and Syria about their activities near the Israeli border.
"It says that we have many ways and many techniques," he said. "We're watching you."
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