Israel has not and is not interfering in the political crisis in Syria, Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Sunday, adding that he did not think radical Islam would take over the country in case Syrian President Bashar Assad is ousted.

Ya’alon’s comments came as Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a Western-Arab UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to step aside.

The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which would have said that the council “fully supports” the Arab League plan.

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Speaking to Army Radio on Sunday, Ya’alon referred to claims that Israel was sustaining Assad’s rule in wake of political turmoil in Syria, saying: “That’s factually untrue because Israel never took a stand saying it was interested in the survival of Assad’s regime.”

The vice prime minister also spoke of the aftermath of Assad’s possible ouster, saying that “there could be different developments in such a situation, some of which could be positive as far as Israel is concerned, like a fissure in the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut-Hamas axis of evil.”

“There’s a difference between Syria and Egypt,” Ya’alon said, referring to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, adding that the “Brotherhood’s power in Syria is much less significant.”

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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