Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani (center) visits Ziv Hospital (file)
Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani (center) visits Ziv Hospital (file)Ziv Medical Center

Israel has maintained a policy of not taking sides in the internecine Syrian war but rather only providing humanitarian aid, and as part of those efforts on Sunday the Knesset is to host one of the top Syrian Opposition leaders, Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani.

Al-Labwani, named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, has maintained close ties with the US as well as key sources in the Israeli government.

On Sunday he is to meet in the early afternoon with Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara (Likud) in his Knesset office.

Al-Labwani is to present the Israeli government with a map of protected regions within Syria, including the Druze enclave, that are to be clean of Sunni terrorist groups such as Islamic State (ISIS) and Nusra Front, as well as Shi'ite terror groups like Hezbollah.

He is asking Israel to enable the provision of humanitarian goods through the Quneitra border crossing to these areas, and requesting that Israel establish field hospitals in the protected regions inside Syria to deal with the wounded, instead of evacuating them to Israel as has been done.

It remains unclear who would be manning the field hospitals, whether it would be Israel actively operating inside Syrian territory, or if Israel would pass along the equipment and train legitimate Opposition groups to run the field hospitals themselves.

Al-Labwani is also to take part on Saturday night in the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, where he is to present the protected regions, speaking second at the event after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

World powers late last week agreed on a peace deal for Syria, calling for an end to the hostilities within a week. However, there remain questions over the implementation of the deal, as it does not address ISIS or the Al Qaeda local branch.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are considering launching a ground invasion against ISIS in Syria, which Russia has warned may cause a "new world war." Over 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the fighting broke out in 2011.