More details are emerging about an order given to Palestinian terrorist groups by Syria’s Basher al-Assad regime, under which the groups were given permission to conduct “operations” against Israel from within Syria. The Tower exclusively conveyed the news yesterday. The story was subsequently confirmed by Syrian media outlets, which described meetings between various groups to coordinate the attacks.

A spokesman for the Syria-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the green light had been given:

“Syria has given the green light to set up missile batteries to directly attack Israeli targets,” Anwar Raja of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command told The Associated Press. He said authorities also told the PFLP-GC that the group could carry out attacks independently without consulting Syrian authorities.

The U.S. State Department has long emphasized that Syria is a terrorist hub, providing bases to “a variety of terrorist groups affecting the stability of the region and beyond.” Decades of cooperation between Damascus and those groups has left the regime with a multiple options for launching terror attacks against Israel’s neighbors. In his first statement since air strikes on Friday and Sunday widely attributed to Israel, Assad declared that Syria was capable of confronting Israel.

Israel, in contrast, has made deliberate moves to dampen tensions in the region in recent days. Israeli officials have publicly emphasized that Israel targeted Iran and its proxies and not the Syrian regime.

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