Iranian intervention in the Syrian civil war

3 weeks ago - Iran saw the survival of the Assad regime as being crucial to its regional interests. When the uprising developed into the Syrian civil war, there were increasing reports of Iranian military support, and of Iranian training of the National Defence Forces both in Syria and Iran.

July 31, 2025 - The Islamic Republic of Iran has ... effort to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power as long as possible while setting conditions to retain its ability to use Syrian territory and assets to pursue its regional interests should Assad fall...

3 weeks ago - Syria established diplomatic relations with Pahlavi Iran after independence, but it was not until the Iranian revolution that Alawite-led Syria established close ties with Iran. Despite several attempts between the two leaders at cooperation during the Cold War, after the shah failed to secure Syrian help in ending Palestinian support for opponents of his pro-Western government, Hafez al-Assad put "his full weight behind" Ruhollah Khomeini, then exiled in France.

October 9, 2018 - Syria is a bridge to Iran’s support of Hezbollah in Lebanon. If Assad were to fall and be replaced by a Sunni regime, this bridge would likely be destroyed and greatly hinder Iran’s influence in the Middle East. This is part of Iran’s greater regional strategy which some have termed the Shia Crescent.

1 week ago - Meanwhile, Shiites in Lebanon and Iraq worry that Damascus could support Sunnis in their countries, changing the balance of power to their disadvantage. Threatened and feeling besieged, Shiites may turn even more decisively toward a communal identity. Syria’s Druze and Alawite minorities have already begun to resist Damascus’s authority. To prevent new civil wars, government collapse, and a resurgence of extremism—in short, the very circumstances that allowed Iran to build the axis of resistance in the first place—state-building efforts in Lebanon and Syria should focus on guaranteeing equal rights for all communities.

Iran's escalating involvement in Syria over the course of the conflict is meant not only to support an ally, but also to maintain its role in the future.

Similarly, the Republican Guard, tasked with protecting the regime’s inner circle and key infrastructure, benefited from Iranian logistical and operational support, ensuring its continued loyalty to Assad. In the past year alone, however, Iran saw the unraveling of its command and control in Syria.

November 5, 2020 - As a result, in 2017-2018, Iran had to find a different approach for its military involvement in order to protect its militias. Iran then began the ambitious plan of redefining its presence in Syria by creating the Local Defense Forces (LDF), supporting specific brigades within the Syrian army ...

Despite claims of a transnational network of solidarity, the axis of resistance has failed to intervene decisively in support of Hamas. In order to cover for this perceived weakness, it appears that Iran has focused on fortifying its supply line through Syria and Iraq, with the ultimate goal of funneling more weapons into the hands of Hezbollah.

5 days ago - US and Syrian forces have collaborated in recent months to dismantle ISIS cells and detain or kill ISIS leaders across Syria.[14] Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Imam Ali leader Shibl al Zaidi called for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias to disarm and integrate into the Iraqi state in a statement published on X on December 18, which would constitute an initial step towards satisfying the first condition in the 2026 Nation Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).[15] Iranian-backed Iraqi militias would need to demobilize their extralegal militias and reintegrate them into society, not merely place them under the PMF, to satisfy the first condition of the NDAA’s Iraq section.

March 15, 2021 - Around a dozen locals, activists, and Syrian analysts told Foreign Policy that Iran is trying to present itself as a benign power to cultivate long-term support among Sunni Syrians, with the final objective of retaining its sphere of influence ...

November 16, 2017 - Throughout the current war in Syria, Iran has remained a steadfast supporter of the Bashar al-Assad regime. The surprising endurance of the Iran-Syria alliance is made more striking by the fact that it is based on neither shared national interests nor religious values, but is rather a tactical-cum-strategic partnership between two authoritarian regimes.

After 2011, the Syrian government became extremely dependent on Iran and its allies. With dwindling resources, a manpower shortage, and increasing pressure from · opposition groups, the regime relied on Iran for its own survival. ... Neither has tried to upstage the other.

May 22, 2019 - Religion and the Syrian Civil War · 10 Reasons for the Arab Spring · Current Situation in the Middle East · Current Situation in Iran · Timeline of the Lebanese Civil War From 1975 to 1990 · Black September: The Jordanian-PLO Civil War of 1970 · How the Arab Spring Started ·

June 5, 2024 - Iran’s strategy is underpinned by a decades-long effort to embed its influence in Lebanon and Syria. Western governments will not find this easy to dislodge, and an intensified coercive strategy to push Iran out of the Levant would likely be counterproductive. But Iran’s focus on preserving its influence and deterrence capability – which trumps its ideological commitment to supporting Palestinians and fighting Israel – offers opportunities to prevent a wider war.

1 week ago - Instability and weak states in Lebanon (from the 1980s), Iraq (from 2003) and Yemen (from 2014) provided a space for Iran to develop alliances with Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and Yemen’s Houthis. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also receive Iranian support. Iran is a long-standing ally of Syria and its President Assad.

Kinetic support peaked around 2015-2016 and entailed direct involvement by Iranian military forces. Nonkinetic engagement, which is now more prominent, entails assisting militias with recruitment and sending them funds, among other support. The IRGC’s high casualty rate in Syria partly explains this shift to indirect support, but foreign sanctions may have played a role as well by giving Tehran more incentive to minimize its visibility in the conflict.

April 25, 2013 - Hence, Iran has stepped up its support of Alawite and other minority militias, not only to preserve some influence in Syria but also (and more importantly) to maintain a physical connection to Hezbollah if Assad is overthrown.

Mutual contempt for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq brought Syria and Iran together in 1980, and mutual fear and loathing of the United States and Israel has helped sustain their alliance.[1] Iran initially supported the popular uprisings in the Middle East—calling them “Islamic awakenings”—when it appeared that only Western-allied Arab autocracies in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen were vulnerable to collapse.

1 week ago - ISIS’s effort to sow divisions between the United States and Syria appears to be unsuccessful at this time because senior US officials have indicated that the recent attack “reinforces” the US policy of supporting Syrian partners to defeat ISIS. Threat of Baloch Militant Groups to Iranian Regime Security: The newly established Mobarizoun Popular Front, which is a coalition of Baloch organizations that seeks to facilitate “deep political change” in Iran, outlined its objectives in a charter on December 10.