https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/4/syria-responds-to-israeli-aggression-says-state-media
According to Syrian government forces, the Israeli army has once again conducted air raids against regime forces and Iranian militias in the Quneitra province. The Syrian regime also claims that “most” of these missiles were intercepted due to anti-air defense technology. This is yet another small development in what has constituted a sort of “shadow war” campaign that has lasted for several years on the behalf of Israel against the Assad regime and the Assad-backing Iranian militia groups on the ground in Syria. While the Israeli army never acknowledges particular raids, including these most recent attacks, it has openly admitted to hitting at least 50 targets in Syria in the year of 2020.
While this particular story is a rather small blip in a much larger conflict, it does help reveal the dynamics of the “power struggle for the Middle East” that is tearing apart the civil war-torn Syria, particularly in regards to Israel’s involvement versus the involvement of its main regional rival, Iran. Israel’s approach to the Syrian civil war has been dictated by the actions of Iran on the ground, with most of their actions in Syria conducted from a distance and through the air. In recent months, Israel’s air raids have reached new heights of deadliness, particularly with the January 13th attack in eastern Syria that reportedly killed 57 regime and allied targets, according to the UK’s Syrian Observatory for Human RIghts.
As the interminable and infinitely confusing Syrian civil war continues to trudge forward, it is becoming increasingly difficult to perceive an end in sight. One might suppose (with fearful trepidation) that, eventually, something will catastrophically erupt in the country, bringing about a full-scale world conflict that attracts not only the regional powers of Iran and Israel into on-the-ground warfare, but also Russia and, yes, the United States and their NATO allies. Hopefully, this will not be the case. But all wars must eventually end, one way or another. How exactly Syria will resolve itself, if such an optimistic word is even applicable, is a terrifying question with, indeed, only answers that are equally terrifying.
(Feb 4)