An Israeli F-35 in southern Israel in 2019. Photo source: Reuters, Amir Cohen
The Israelis have just attacked by air Syrian army bases
near the northeastern province Deir al-Zour, according to Reuters. The British news
service didn't give a reason for the attack.
But Israel worries about Iranian arms shipments to the Hezbollah terrorists
in Lebanon across Syria, perhaps through the port at Latakia in western Syria.
About a day ago, the Israelis bombed Iranian arms shipments near Damascus, at
al-Dimas.
On top
of all of this, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Ismail Qaani, reportedly visited
military sites in Syria while President Bashar Assad was in China last month. A
Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Jarida, says Qaani discussed shipping old
stockpiled arms from Hezbollah to Arab tribes in northeast Syria that are
friendly to Assad, then shipping new Russian arms back to Hezbollah. The Arabs
could attack the Syrian Democratic Forces, organized by the Americans in the
northeast in part to lead the fight against Assad. And the Russians, allies to
Assad, could make pocket money on sales to Hezbollah. The Americans would be
pressured to withdraw from the Syrian oilfields that they ostensibly seized to
keep them out of the hands of the Islamic State, cells of which remain active
west of the Euphrates River.
One infers that Iran is trying cleverly to extend its regional influence via
Syria and doesn't much care Assad thinks of it. He is increasingly irrelevant. And
Tehran is increasingly wresting control of Damascus away from Moscow.—Leon Taylor,
Baltimore tayloralmaty@gmail.com
ReferencesAlleged Israeli airstrikes target Iranian sites in eastern Syria - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
Two Syrian soldiers injured in Israeli air attack on army sites in Deir al Zor | Reuters
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