Islamic Jihadists Head for Syrian-Golan Border, Says Israeli Intelligence Chief

The Syrian forces are failing to secure the country's border and Islamic Jihadists from across the world are closing in on the Syrian-Israeli border, says Major General Aviv Kochavi, intelligence chief of Israel.

The Golan Heights region near the Syrian-Israeli border has been stormed by militants due to the civil war taking place inside Syria. The surge in such assailants poses a direct threat to the national security, Kochavi told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

"The Golan area is liable to become an arena of operations against Israel in much the same way the Sinai is today, and that's a result of the increasing entrenchment of Global Jihad in Syria," said Kochavi in the meeting, according to an Associated Press report quoting one of the participants of the closed-door meeting.

The chaotic situation inside Syria has created a possible arena for anti-Israeli operations, the intelligence chief warned the lawmakers. Satellite pictures of the troops' movement were also reportedly shown to substantiate the claim.

"Assad removed forces from the Golan Heights region to Damascus because he is not concerned conflict will emerge with Israel," Kochavi was quoted by Los Angeles Times.

The Golan area, the Syrian-Israeli border, was largely peaceful nearly for the past four decades.

Previous reports suggested increasing presence of al-Qaida and other militant groups in Syria which were behind some of the recent attacks against the Syrian regime.

The intelligence chief's comments followed incidents of similar kinds of troubles from Egypt. After the expulsion of former dictator Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's Sinai desert was used as a base for militant activities against Israel. Several attacks were carried out from the region which mounted Kochavi's fears.

The Israeli intelligence chief and other experts were also worried about the stockpiling of chemical weapons by the Syrian forces.

Syria has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the middle-east according to reports, and if it ends up in the hands of militant groups, it could cast a huge devastation, fear the experts.