Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Syrian President Ahmad Sharaa, and the rebels under his command, freed Syria from a despotic dictator of 24 years on December 8, 2024, as well as eliminated the Iranian presence in Syria, which posed a substantial security threat to Israel.
Previously, Iran and its operatives inside Syria were firmly entrenched across the country. Former President Bashar Assad had allowed Iran a free hand in Syria in exchange for Iranian paramilitaries, and military supplies, fighting the rebels to keep him in power.
After the Sharaa administration took power, all Iranian assets and personnel fled the country. The new government in Damascus is opposed to Iran and Hezbollah. The Axis of Resistance is gone. Hezbollah has been brought to its knees by Israeli attacks and occupation, and Syria is no longer a friend of Iran or an Iranian weapons depot.
Instead of Israel thanking Syria for removing an enemy and cutting off the supply chain of weapons to Hezbollah, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes across Syria that have killed civilians, and security forces and destroyed infrastructure. Syria has done nothing to provoke any military action.
Israel has also struck areas associated with Turkey in Syria sparking fears of an unprovoked and unwarranted proxy war fought on Syrian soil.
US President Obama began supporting the rebels in Syria in 2011, but by 2017 President Trump had cut off funding of the CIA program supporting the rebels. However, Turkey continued its role as the leading supporter of the rebels in Idlib, which was under the control of Sharaa, previously known as 'Jolani'.
Turkey wanted to send home the 3 million Syrian refugees and sought to oust Assad to create a safe, secure, and stable Syria that could welcome home the refugees. Assad lacked the support of the majority of the Syrian people, and he refused to support his army with decent payroll and benefits, which dissolved the Army almost without a fight as the rebel forces from Idlib poured through Aleppo, Hama, Homs and finally arrived in Damascus as Assad escaped on a plane.
As the plane carrying Assad was flying away, the Israeli air force was busy bombing military bases, airstrips, warehouses, air defense systems, and all other military assets in Syria. Syria was left defenseless and without any military personnel or assets. Syria became the Switzerland of the Middle East overnight.
Simultaneously, Israel invaded and occupied a buffer zone in southwestern Syria adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights set up after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and sent forces onto the Syrian side of a nearby mountain, setting up nine bases across the area. The United Nations denounced Israel's occupation as a violation of the 1974 accords.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967, and illegally annexed it in 1981, although the UN and the international community refused to accept it. In 2019, Trump unilaterally recognized it as Israeli territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu has said, "We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."
Syrian citizens in the Israeli-occupied buffer zone have complained of Israeli encroachment on their land as well as checkpoints, unauthorized arrests, housing raids, and road closures.
Netanyahu said the IDF would be there for "an unlimited period of time", while the Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has said the IDF will remain there "indefinitely". Katz added, "Any attempt by Syrian regime forces or terrorist organizations in the country to establish a foothold in the security zone of southern Syria will be met with fire."
Recently, in the southern city of Deraa, nine civilians were killed by an Israeli attack, during the deepest incursion there yet by the IDF.
On April 2, Israel carried out air strikes on military targets in Syria, including the Hama military airport and the T4 base near Homs.
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