Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/24/israel-strikes-syrian-capital-damascus-military-site-near-homs
Israel launched air strikes on Syria’s capital Damascus and a military site near the city of Homs. According to Syria’s ministry of defense, they killed one soldier and injured seven others. The attack happened as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is touring the region, pushing for an end to the war in Gaza. Israel has for years carried out attacks against Iran-linked targets in Syria, but their attacks have ramped up since last October 7th, when an assault in Southern Israel was carried out by Hamas. On Monday, Syria reported a guided missile attack on a car in Damascus. Israel said it killed a Hezbollah leader responsible for transferring weapons from Iran. Israel has hit Syria over 220 times since last October.
This article leads me to believe that the war in Gaza will not be ending soon. Even though the attack Israel led was on Syria not Gaza, the fighting is all associated and Netanyahu does not seem to want to stop military strikes. Syria also is struggling significantly because of Israel’s repeated attacks, and their country needs help in many ways. This article makes me worry for the Middle East more because Israel is not moving towards peace. This event makes me wonder what Syria’s response will be, because as they are not a wealthy country they probably can’t respond at all. I understand Israel wanting to appear strong amidst the ongoing middle east conflicts, but Syria doesn’t have the capability to go after Israel. Maybe Israel is attacking Syria because they are an easier target than Iran out of the Muslim countries.
To me, it seems like the collective goods problem relates to this issue with Jerusalem. Muslims and Jews and Christians all want to “have” Jerusalem. Both religions can’t claim the city. Currently, Jews stake claim to Jerusalem and Israel is a Jewish state. The Islamic countries that surround Israel would like to take Israel and the Palestinians who live in Israel’s terrorist group Hamas attempted to take the country. Syria, a Muslim country, is backed by Iran, one of the most powerful Muslim countries. Israel is trying to demonstrate strength by attacking Syria repeatedly. As Iran’s ally, it sends a message to the Islamic countries that Israel will do everything to stop their land from being taken. Basically, Israel is trying to have dominance to solve the collective goods problem. They are not the dominant country though, so there is just a lot of fighting occurring in the region.