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Israel reportedly had secret communications with ousted President Bashar al-Assad's regime on WhatsApp for years before it was toppled earlier this month.

The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Tel Aviv established contact with Assad and his inner circle, with its intelligence agents sending messages posing as “Musa” on the messaging app.

The agents reportedly sent these messages under the name “Musa” to the top brass in Damascus, including his defence minister, Ali Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli army reportedly started the conversations due to the growing presence of Iranian forces and proxy militias including Lebanon's Hezbollah in Syria since the conflict there began in 2011. Hamas also reportedly had a presence in Syria despite the departure of its leaders from the country shortly after the conflict broke out.

Israel reportedly wanted to offer the now-fallen dictator a deal that would ease sanctions against the regime in exchange for blocking Iran’s arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The messages reveal that "Musa" would contact the regime after almost every Israeli attack in Syria, providing explanations about the attack while also threatening to take punitive measures if the regime did not sever its ties with Iran, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militias.

The messages were reportedly put into writing and then circulated to several senior officials, including Ali Mamlouk, the Syrian Vice President for Security Affairs.

Yedioth Ahronoth says the messages were published online by the rebels who stormed Assad’s intelligence headquarters and had interpreted the messages as evidence of an Israeli-Russian plot against Assad.

The conversations were reportedly mediated by Russia, a key ally of the regime. The publication also noted the then-chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was meant to meet Assad in the Kremlin, but Assad backed out.

There have been several reports of secret dealings between the Assad regime and Israel following the fall of the dictatorship.

 A series of documents that were reportedly leaked revealed a covert channel showing alleged regime complicity in Israeli attacks in Syria.

Similar to the WhatsApp conversations, the documents also show a warning to Syria to stop the flow of arms to Hezbollah, with an operative also named "Musa" or "Moses" communicating with Abbas, giving warning about Hamas activities in Syria.