The officials divulged that in a series of meetings in recent days in Cairo between Israeli and Egyptian security officials, Israel inquired about information on Al Qaeda groups acting on the Syria-Israel border.
Israel also asked Egypt to look into whether there is evidence of any collaboration between jihadist cells in the Egyptian Sinai and militias stationed near the Israeli-Syrian border, the officials said.
According to information that Israel received from Saudi Arabia, there is evidence Al Qaeda groups in Syria are forming new networks in preparation for future rounds of fighting if the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad falls, the officials said. The Al Qaeda groups are also studying how to establish cells to attack Israel.
The information follows reports of heavy fighting last week in an area between Damascus and the Israeli Golan Heights in what could become a new battlefront between Syrian troops and rebels uncomfortably close to the Jewish state’s borders.
Concern over Syrian rebels attacking Israel also comes amid reports of stepped-up U.S. support for those very rebels.