Hello! Your friendly neighbour Middle East policy person here.

I saw a post about this that just got removed (I was writing this as it was being removed and I thought I would create my own post to raise the issue, as it's an important one. There's a link to an article about it: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/katz-confirms-israeli-strikes-in-southern-syria-we-will-not-allow-it-to-become-southern-lebanon/

Israel is not attacking Syria per say, it’s targeting terror infrastructure, weapons caches, etc, things that could still be used by terror groups, militias, to attack Israel or even attack Syria internally. This makes both Israel and Syria safer. Don’t forget, Syria is still not a united country - fighting is still occurring between some groups and the country is still spilt between various groups.

What isn’t being reported is that IS is still operating in Syria - multiple terror attacks have been thwarted since Jan 1 (by the SDF, the Syrian Kurds in the north-east).

Why is Israel attacking your country?

Why doesn’t your country defend itself? Does it not have any drones or missiles to attack back like Iran did?

Does it not have any air defence system? Also when do you think Syria will be safe for tourists to visit?

They bombed airports in syria in the current war, how can this be acceptable and not considered a war declaration?

First, let me say that what's happening in Syria is truly heartbreaking. Syrians had the opportunity to build a democratic and united country, but it's being destroyed because people can't seem to sit down together and negotiate. While the government's demands may be valid, the way it has handled the situation is wrong in many ways.

However, how does this give Israel the right to interfere and bomb Syria? The most common argument I've seen is that Israel is protecting its allies, but I don't understand which allies are being referred to. The Syrian Druze? Yes, I know that the Israeli Druze are loyal allies of Israel, but what does that have to do with the Syrian Druze? I personally know some Syrian Druze who are openly against Israel.

Aren't there about 20,000 Druze living in northern Israel who even refused Israeli citizenship back in 1980s and still consider themselves Syrians? Like how does this makes sense?

Or is it part of a broader strategy to prevent Syria from recovering and to fuel the internal conflict? And maybe annex some parts of southern Syria too?

Edit: The lack of reading comprehension is crazy so let me explain myself better here.

I'm strongly against what's happening to the Syrian Druze, and I clearly stated that the way the Syrian Government dealt is very wrong and not acceptable. And I think that Julani isn't suitable anymore to lead the country. If he's gonna be dealing like this. People didn't get rid of a dictator to get another.

But still my question is what gives Israel the right to bomb Syria? The Syrian Druze have nothing to do with Israel and do not even consider Israel an ally.

Re: This article

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-said-readying-list-of-government-and-military-targets-in-syria/

I haven’t been following developments in Syria closely. I know the Syrian government has been attacking Syrian Druze. Is this related to that? The article doesn’t give any reasoning.

As soon as Syrian rebels successfully overthrew the Assad regime, Israel launched an aggressive military campaign in Syria. Over three days, the IDF conducted approximately 500 airstrikes, devastating 70-80% of Syria’s military assets and destroying nearly its entire naval fleet. In parallel, Israeli forces advanced into Syria from the Golan Heights, seizing control of strategic surrounding territory.

But what does Israel aim to achieve with this operation? The collapse of Assad’s regime already represents a significant strategic gain for Israel. Iran has lost a key ally and a critical supply route for arming Hezbollah. Furthermore, the leading rebel faction, HTS, which is poised to dominate the new Syrian government, harbors deep hostility toward both Iran and Hezbollah.

While I understand Israel’s concerns about the potential threat posed by HTS—given its Islamist ideology and its roots as an Al Qaeda affiliate—their aggressive approach appears premature and counterproductive. The world is closely observing HTS to determine whether their supposed shift toward moderation is genuine or merely a PR move to gain legitimacy during the civil war. And the jury is still very much out. At the moment, HTS is focused on consolidating power and forming a functional government, not initiating conflict with Israel or anyone else for that matter.

By preemptively treating HTS as a direct threat, Israel is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Rather than taking a measured approach to gauge the intentions of Syria’s new leadership, these actions are forcing their hand. It just seems strategically short-sighted. Even if HTS does pose a future threat, Israel’s immediate aggression could ensure a more adversarial relationship than might have otherwise developed.

Thoughts?

does anyone have any idea what are we trying to accomplish

So for Gaza and Lebanon, both sides are clearly valid targets as both are led by parties who's primary objective is the destruction of Israel, and had launched attacks beforehand. But as for for the new Syria, why?

If it's just the destruction of military hardware, that would have been easier to understand. But an incursion? harder to do so, they already have a buffer zone with the Golan Heights, and Jolani has not expressed his wish to destroy Israel, let alone had done physical attacks against Israel, and to the contrary, even stated his disinterest on conflict with Israel.

Despite his past, I respect Jolani for his attempt on reconstructing a more pragmatic government in Syria. Something that the middle east needed for quite a while.

Yes, Syria (like most Arab countries) has a population that is anti-Israel. But so does Jordan and Egypt, or Gaza so it isn't really sufficient cause. HAMAS especially has been pumping anti-Israel propaganda for years and it took a real attack on October 7 before Israel kicked the door, same thing with Lebanon launching missiles into Israel for months before Israel went in. But Jolani's new Syria hasn't made any attacks nor stated their interest to do so, which makes the incursion even more confusing.

if Israel wants peace and good relations with the new Syria, an incursion isn't a good way of introduction, if they have problems with each other, wouldn't it be just better for them to talk it out through diplomatic channels? Even if it fails to resolve persisting problems, at least it'd look like Israel tried to do things the diplomatic way.

Did you know that of all the Middle East, Israel is the sole state with Nukes? 80 nukes. Over the years, Israel and the USA have made it their business, to deny all the other countries in the Arabnations the opportunity to build nukes or become a nuclear power in any way, usually under the claim "We are the World Police." The Arab States are just too unstable to have nukes, what with always being at war you know.

And no matter what they do, no matter how hard they try, no matter how nice they play, as soon as anybody is even considered, ISIS suddenly pops up and they are too unstable to be considered because ISIS might take over the government.

(Note that since the Syrians have pulled together and the warring Russia, Assad and Iran are out, despite the tremulous state of the country, the only person who ever talks about ISIS is the USA and the only trouble with ISIS seems to pop up on SDF territory at exactly the moment Syrians protest. It's very conspicuous.)

So, despite how small the country really is, and how few resources it really has, and despite being a country mostly created by buying its land, and despite being the only Jewish-majority country in the Middle East, and despite attacking 7 countries at once, and openly announcing an intention for another, Israel can just laugh, show everybody its nukes and thumb its nose. Didn't do that so much at Syria, what with being occupied by BOTH Russia and America, but it was still free to break any ceasefire on a whim usually aimed at rebel territory in the north - and build settlements on the Golan Heights, which is internationally considered Syrian territory. The DMZ is significantly wider than that between North and South Korea, and entirely on Syrian soil.

And Netenyahu wonders why he's surrounded by enemies.

Over the years, this ability to attack unchallenged has become more and more ingrained. Israel can do exactly what it wants in the name of terrorism and anti-semiteism and not a single person can fight back. It has become more and more despicable, to the point of insanity. Yet, supported by the US, which still occupies vast swathes of Syria (and curiously, has lots of Jewish voters, eh?), people hear little about how genuinely evil its actions have become. After the UN told Israel to stop bombing the GAZA STRIP, it was trolled by masses of Twitter accounts accusing it of anti-semitism. And has set up downvote farms on Reddit.

And under the guise of terrorism, the moment Russia was out of Syria, before Syrians could celebrate even 24 hours of freedom, Israel carpet bombed the celebrating Syria in a way it has not been over 13 years of Civil War - although it hasn't hit SDF territory very much...

And nobody in the world said a thing.

First megathread

While the events in Syria are ongoing, and the outcome is uncertain, we understand that many people will have questions and concerns.

Please use this megathread to share any questions, comments, speculation etc.

Also, any updates or news that might be related to events in Syria but are off topic for r/Israel are welcome.

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