Enab Baladi – Omar Alaa Eldin
Syria is distancing itself from the conflict between Israel and Iran, despite its geographic location that renders its skies a battleground for missiles, aerial operations, and counterattacks.
This unprecedented escalation began with Israeli airstrikes targeting leadership centers, nuclear facilities, and several high-ranking military leaders in Iran.
More than 20 Iranian leaders were killed, according to Reuters, while about 200 Israeli fighter jets participated in the attack, striking around 100 targets in various areas within Iran, according to Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin, who spoke to reporters on June 13.
Additionally, 300 bombs were used in executing these attacks, while warplanes continued to target installations in Iran.
In response, the Iranian army launched about 300 missiles in two separate barrages towards Israel, reacting to the Israeli attacks. Israeli officials stated to Channel 13 that there was unprecedented damage in the greater Tel Aviv area due to the fall of Iranian missiles.
The skies of Syria have been a transit zone for Israeli aircraft and Iranian missiles, and Israel also intercepted missiles over Syria in the southern provinces.
Researcher Wael Alwan from the Jusoor for Studies Center believes that these extensive strikes by Israel against high-ranking leaders in Iran and strategic military sites, including nuclear reactors, will affect the entire region, and their implications will include the stability of the area, particularly the “geo-military” space and the operational landscape that encompasses Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.
The Syrian position
International reactions to the escalation in Iran have been numerous, starting with Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that Netanyahu’s administration is dragging the region and the world toward disaster with its “reckless, aggressive, and unlawful actions.” He added that Israel’s attacks on Iran represent a blatant provocation and disregard for international law.
Saudi Arabia also condemned what it termed “brazen Israeli assaults” on Iran, considering the Israeli attack on Iran a violation and a blatant contravention of international laws and norms, according to the Saudi news agency.
Meanwhile, Syria remained silent regarding this escalation between two adversaries of the new government, despite Damascus’s statements about seeking agreements with Israel.
It is not in the interest of the Syrian government to hastily take a stance between these rivals, according to researcher Wael Alwan. Iran is seen as an adversary for the support it provided to the former regime and its stance afterward, as it still harbors animosity towards the new Syrian government and the Syrian people and towards the stability of Syria.
Conversely, Israel still views the new regime in Syria as a potential adversary that could be negotiated with in the future, but Tel Aviv continues to carry out incursions and assaults on Syrian territory.
Alwan added that “a stance must be taken that directly condemns any act that affects Syrian territory or Syrian forces in this aggression or its response.”
On June 12, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli incursion in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, stating that such provocative actions hinder efforts to achieve stability and reconstruction, calling on United Nations forces monitoring the disengagement (UNDOF) to assume their responsibilities.
The Israeli army announced the arrest of individuals belonging to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), claiming they “are attempting to promote multiple terrorist plots against Israeli citizens and the Israel Defense Forces in Syria, in the town of Beit Jinn southwest of the capital Damascus.”
Researcher Alwan believes that part of this ongoing struggle between Israel and Iran may pass over Syria, expecting that there will be some impacts and repercussions affecting it. Thus, a “condemnatory position” should be established regarding what will affect Syria from these attacks.
On June 13, remnants of missiles fell in the countryside of Daraa after the reciprocal shelling between Israel and Iran while passing through Syrian airspace. The official news agency (SANA) suggested that these remnants may be from an empty fuel tank of an Israeli warplane or an Iranian missile, and no material or human damage resulted, according to the agency.
The Alikhbaria Syria news channel reported that these remnants were Iranian missiles that were intercepted in the city of Inkhil and near the city of al-Sanamayn in northern Daraa.
Syria’s indifference
Researcher Wael Alwan states that Syria’s current compass is what directly affects it either negatively or positively. Therefore, the new government is not concerned with the previous or traditional alignments of Syria but rather with Syria’s interest on the regional and international level.
Thus, the Syrian government is hesitant, especially since neither party is a friend to the Syrian people, and both act provocatively towards the stability of Syria, according to Alwan.
The researcher predicts that the Syrian position will be “anticipatory and condemnatory” toward anything that threatens the stability of Syria within this conflict.
If there is no direct attack on Syria, then these repercussions are of no concern to Syria, according to Alwan, but strategically it is expected that Israeli “arrogance” will increase, which is now worrying all governments in the region, not just the Syrian people.
Syrian political analyst Bassam Suleiman agrees with this view, stating to Enab Baladi that the best position Syria can take is one of neutrality, questioning what relevance Syria has in standing with Iran against Israel, or vice versa? He considers that Syria pursues a policy of “zero problems.”
The political analyst expects that the Syrian position in the future will continue to follow the policy of “distancing itself” and enhancing communication with what he describes as “the axis of construction and prosperity,” referring to Syria’s regional allies, the Arab Gulf states, and Turkey.
Suleiman pointed out that the “axis of construction and prosperity” that Syria is following naturally requires a “zero problems” policy.
Previous positions
Iran lost its influence in Syria with the fall of Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, while Israel took a tense stance regarding the new rule in Syria, executing several incursions and missile attacks that targeted Syrian military sites, as well as occupying some villages and areas adjacent to the borders.
While Iran claims that its presence in Syria was “advisory,” facts and studies indicate that it has sent tens of thousands of militia members and funded and managed them. It also exploited its embassy in Damascus as a center to coordinate military operations against the Syrian people, further strengthening accusations of its direct involvement in supporting repression and fueling the conflict.
For his part, the transitional Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, mentioned in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that Syria had been “a platform for Iran” through which it managed four Arab capitals, causing its intervention in wars and corruption and flooding the region with drugs.
Al-Sharaa affirmed that removing Iranian militias from Syria has achieved security stability, considering that the Iranian project has regressed for 40 years, as he mentioned in various press interviews.
On the other hand, Iran sees Syria as “occupied” by Israel, Turkey, and the United States, amid Israeli efforts to realize the dream of “from the Nile to the Euphrates,” as stated by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani in a statement days ago.
On the other side, Syria’s position towards Israel is one of rejection of interference, advocating for negotiation and the implementation of the disengagement agreement of 1974, as repeatedly stated by President al-Sharaa in support of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Israel, alluding to the normalization of relations between the two countries someday.
Following the fall of the regime, the Israeli army took control of the buffer zone, which is 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) in the Golan Heights, conducting limited incursions in southern Syria and carrying out airstrikes it claims aim to prevent arms from falling into the wrong hands.
With the beginning of the new authorities’ control in Damascus, Tel Aviv regarded it as a “terrorist government.” However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown interest in negotiating a new security agreement and working toward a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria, according to Axios on June 11.
Tel Aviv-Tehran war: Silence prevails in Damascus Enab Baladi.
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