A view of Syria from Israeli side of the border. Photo: wiki commons.

A senior Israeli intelligence official has told Israel’s Channel 2 that soon the country’s border with Syria will be “the hottest border in Israel,” even more dangerous and active than those shared with Egypt and Gaza. According to the source, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s holdout against opposition rebel forces appears to slowly be coming to an end, the expectation of attacks against Israel from extremist groups who have been massing weapons along the border will rise.

“Currently what keeps the Assad regime in power is the Syrian Air Force,” said the source. “Fighter jets and helicopter attacks” have prevented the rebels from winning the war. ” The problem,” the source says, “is that recently the Syrian Air Force has been losing one to two planes a day and they can not keep pace with attrition like that. The collapse of the Syrian Air Force would lead to the outright collapse of the government.”

The main problem is not local rebels but those that come from outside of Syria. Fighters have begun to flow into Syria from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya. The source told Channel 2 “it’s important to say that we are talking about very dangerous people with experience fighting the U.S. Army” in Iraq or against the regime in Libya. Today, estimates have it that between 3,000 and 4,000 rebels are readying a fight with Israel, according to Channel 2.

Said the Israeli official: “It really doesn’t matter who controls Syria the day after the regime falls. Every indication is that it is not heading in a positive direction for Israel.”