By Trisha Roy
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has described his country’s most significant air attacks on Syria in decades as a heavy blow to Syria and Iran. The attacks were in response to Syrian government forces shooting down an Israeli fighter jet on Saturday and claims that an Iranian drone had entered Israeli airspace.
The Iranian involvement
Iran is Israel’s arch-enemy and Iranian troops have been involved in fighting ‘rebel’ groups in the region since 2011. Tehran has sent military advisers, volunteer militias and, reportedly, hundreds of fighters from its Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). It is also believed to have supplied thousands of tonnes of weaponry and munitions to help President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which is fighting on Syria’s side.
Tehran has faced accusations that it is seeking to establish not just an arc of influence but a logistical supply line through to Hezbollah in Lebanon. For years, Israel has been striking at weapons stores and other facilities in Syria with a single goal—to disrupt and, as far as possible, to prevent advanced Iranian missiles being delivered to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Syria has often been the conduit for these shipments, but the changing balance of power there—the survival of President Bashar al-Assad bolstered by Iranian help—has introduced a powerful new element: a direct Iranian role in the crisis. A more confident Iran is alleged by Israel to be setting up bases in Syria, but it is also accused of developing missile factories, to make its supply lines to Hezbollah less vulnerable.
The escalating situation
The air attacks reportedly hit an airport on the outskirts of al-Suwayda, in southern Syria, and a weapons depot near the capital, Damascus. Israel has sounded several warnings about the perceived increased Iranian involvement along its borders with Syria and Lebanon. The confrontation was the most serious between the arch foes since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011.
Israel’s raids came after it intercepted what it said was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from Syria which it labelled an attack. This marked the first time Israel publicly acknowledged attacking what it identified as Iranian targets in Syria since the war began. The response was the “most significant attack” of its kind against Syria since the 1982 Lebanon war, according to senior Israeli air force general Tomer Bar.
The F-16 jet went down during a mission that followed an Iranian drone strike in Israeli territory, Israel says. The two pilots parachuted to safety before the plane crashed in northern Israel. Israel says it responded with a second wave of strikes on both Syrian and Iranian military targets operating inside Syria. Israeli air strikes in Syria are not unusual, BBC Middle East says, but the loss of an Israeli fighter jet marks a serious escalation in this activity.
The international response
Israel has said little about an apparent air strike on a Syrian weapons store near Latakia, but a US official has been much more forthcoming, telling a television network that it was indeed Israel which was the author of the attack. The target, according to the Americans, was a missile store holding weaponry that Israel feared was going to be transferred to Hezbollah—the Assad regime’s main ally in Lebanon.
The US administration has backed Israel’s hawkish stance on Iran and declared containing Tehran’s influence an objective of its Syria policy. On a visit to Israel last month, US Vice President Mike Pence called Iran the world’s “leading state sponsor of terror”. Pentagon spokesman Adrian Rankine-Galloway said that the United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself. “We share the concerns of many throughout the region that Iran’s destabilizing activities … threaten international peace and security, and we seek greater international resolve in countering Iran’s malign activities”. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to visit the region in the coming week to discuss Syria and other issues and is scheduled to visit Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon among other countries.
According to a UN spokesman, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is watching the “alarming” military escalation throughout Syria and has called on all sides to exercise restraint and work for an immediate and unconditional de-escalation of the violence. The UN chief has called “for an immediate and unconditional de-escalation of violence. …All concerned in Syria and the region have a responsibility and must abide by international law and relevant Security Council resolutions.”
The Syrian response
The Syrian military and its allies have denied that the Iranian drone violated Israel’s airspace, according to a report by the Syrian state-run SANA news agency. The joint operations room, run by Syria, Iran, Russia and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, said that the drone was on a regular mission gathering intelligence on fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Sources in Damascus have also said there were casualties among Syrian forces.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the war in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said that at least six Syrian troops and allied militia members were killed in the Israeli air attacks. The six included Syrian and non-Syrian allied troops, according to the SOHR who added that Israel has targeted several bases east of the central province of Homs. It said the bases are used by both Iranians and Russians deployed in support of the Assad government. Despite Israel technically being at war with Syria since 1967 over the Golan Heights it has not played a direct role in the Syrian conflict.
American backing for Israel and Russian backing for Syria raises the prospect of an increase in tensions between the two countries. The Israeli airstrikes have helped to escalate tensions that already existed in the region. However, an arms race between the two superpowers of the Cold War as happened in the 1960’s is not on the horizon.
Featured Image Source: Flickr
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