Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israel has apparently begun to shift its policy in Syria, moving towards a more hostile stance on the country’s new Islamist-led Interim Government.
Since the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad last year, Israel has been very open about its suspicions of the country’s new Islamist rulers. Hours after the fall of the regime, the Israeli military occupied the buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights in southern Syria. It later went on to launch hundreds of strikes with the aim of destroying the country’s military capabilities.
Tensions mounted with Turkey, the main backer of the Syrian government, over these moves, especially when Israeli strikes hit bases where Ankara planned to deploy troops earlier this year.
Recent months saw serious efforts by the administration of United States President Donald Trump to broker a security agreement between Israel and Syria.
Despite these efforts, talks on a security agreement reached a dead end earlier this month, according to Hebrew media. Syria demanded a withdrawal from the buffer zone, and Israel rejected.
The first sign of growing hostility towards Syria in Israel came on November 21, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Security Cabinet that Syria’s Interim President Ahmed al-Shaara has been acting irrationally ever since returning from his meeting with Trump a week earlier.
“Syrian President Shaara has started doing all sorts of things since the meeting with Trump in Washington,” Netanyahu said. “He came back inflated.”
Netanyahu also confirmed during the same meeting recent reports of a Russian military delegation visiting southern Syria, near the buffer zone.
The visit was reportedly a part of a proposed plan to redeploy Russian forces in the region in order to de-escalate tensions with Israel, according to Hebrew and Arab media.
More escalation came on November 26, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that an invasion from Syria was possible.
According to a report by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, Katz said that Israel is “not on track” for a security deal or normalization with Syria , and is preparing for scenarios in which Syrian forces, or various militias within the country, attempt to attack Israeli communities or again threaten Syrian Druze communities.
Katz told the committee that Houthis are among the forces operating in Syria, with the Iran-backed Yemeni group weighing a ground invasion of the Golan Heights, the report added.
Kan also named the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as another group that has been working to expand its military presence in Syria. The report noted that this is taking place with the full awareness of Syria and comes as Hamas bolsters its strength in Lebanon through increased cooperation with Hezbollah.
The PIJ has expanded the capabilities of its military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, within Syria in recent weeks, noting a particular uptick in activity in the Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus, according to the broadcaster, which said that Syria is considered a particularly convenient base for the PIJ due to the U.S. recent informal ban on Israeli strikes against the country.
Kan also reported that Shara has even appointed an envoy whose sole task is to facilitate communications between his government and PIJ leadership.
While it is unclear if any of these claims are true, it is not hard to imagine that both Houthis and the PIJ are operating in Syria under the watch of the government.
The Houthis were among few Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that didn’t provide the Assad regime with any support. Thus, it makes sense that Sharaa would tolerate them, and even attempt to build an indirect relation with Tehran through them, possibly to illicit military support.
On the other hand, the PIJ has entrenched itself in Syria since its very foundation. The group’s influence among Palestinian refugees and Syrian Islamists in Damascus makes it nearly impossible for Sharaa to uproot it, even if he wants so.
All in all, Israel has clearly begun to adopt a more aggressive stance towards Syria, which may be also looking for ways to improve its military posture.
A confrontation between the two remains highly unlikely, however. Israel is still focused on its main struggle with Iran and its allies, and Syria is improving its ties with the U.S. at an increasing pace. Some sort of an understanding along the current lines seems more likely, at least for the near future.
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they just just said that jihad was active in montevideo, asked the control of the police (seriously, no joke)
the attack hit a liquid storage tank at the khor mor facility, dana gas said in a disclosure to the stock market……………………………………. https://bitly.cx/ujgxb
sharaa looks like a stooge working for the west against iran and houthis, he just transfered the management of tartus and latakia ports to dp world of uae which seems complicit with the expanzionist entity which is setting a military base against houthis on the invaded socotra yemeni archipelago.
cadê o meu comentário?
just look at the actions of hts it never defends syria and let the expanzionist invade it. look at a map the yemen is very far from syria golan’s height the whole territory is full of us and its proxies bases. the houthis are surrounded by usil uae and saudis proxies who have naval and air superiority. a houthi ground attack makes no sense that is blattant delusional hasbara as a pretext for usil to attack first (eventualy after a false flag incident).
israel is just a rouge nation driven by wealthy religious zealots. it destroys all in its path and creates nothing but misery. useless !