Syria was already a nation torn apart by conflict, foreign and domestic. But lately, it appears more and more like a country that everyone feels at liberty to bomb — with different pretexts and for different reasons.
These strikes have increased in the past three-plus months as a repercussion of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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Military bases in Syria that house U.S. forces were repeatedly attacked by explosives-laden drones and with missiles by Iran-backed militias. The U.S. military has responded with strikes on militias in both Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Turkey, meanwhile, has continued to launch attacks on Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria, and has hit areas controlled by the Syrian regime in and around the city of Qamishli on January 14. Israel and the U.S. have repeatedly bombed sites and targets linked to Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian regime. Jordan has become the latest to launch strikes on targets inside Syria.
The strikes are part of multiple wars being waged on Syrian territories, involving many state and non-state actors. These wars have made Syria a country whose sovereignty is violated by many countries, with no end to such violations in sight.
Assad looks to Moscow and Tehran
Syria descended into civil war in 2011, when President Bashar al-Assad’s government used deadly violence to quash pro-democracy protests that were part of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the Arab world. The conflict quickly morphed to a proxy war among regional and world powers.
Israel bombs sites in Syria that it says belong to Hezbollah
The Israel-Hamas war, now in its third month, has led to an increase in the Israeli strikes on Iranian posts in Syria. At the same time, the pace of drug smuggling from Syria to Jordan has increased, prompting the latter to launch airstrikes inside Syria. As global attention shifted to war in Gaza, ISIS stepped up its attacks, with Syria receiving the lion’s share, in addition to attacks on the Kurdish “People’s Protection Units.” These are the four main axes of today’s strikes in Syria. But many actors appear to wait their turn to bomb Syria or meddle in its affairs.
One reason for the chaos in Syria is that it has become a proxy war zone for international powers. Russia supports al-Assad, who gives it a foothold in the Middle East. Yet al-Assad is a long-time ally of Iran, which wants to limit the influence of its foe, Saudi Arabia, while expanding its influence in the region. Israel has an issue with weapons being delivered to Hezbollah in Syria. So it bombs sites in Syria that it says belong to Hezbollah.
Al-Assad’s permission for Russia and Iran’s interventions, and the Western and Turkish interventions, gave Jordan the green light to launch airstrikes inside Syria to fight drug smuggling.
Repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war
Syria is undoubtedly one of the most prominent examples of the chaos of proxy wars in the modern era, along with Yemen and Iraq. In Syria, however, the scene is more complex, with each regional or international crisis adding a new blow to the already exhausted country.
Since the breakout of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the pace of U.S. and Israeli attacks on facilities and posts used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and allied groups in Syria has escalated. While Israel has not acknowledged attacks in Syria, the Pentagon said its strikes were a response to a series of attacks against U.S. forces in both Iraq and Syria. Pentagon spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder said U.S. forces in Syria have been attacked 12 times with explosive-laden drones and missiles since October 17.
The multi-party escalation shows that Syria’s relative stability in recent years is not permanent
The U.S. intervened in Syria’s civil war in September 2014, backing its allies who had worked to topple the al-Assad regime. The U.S. then deployed 2,000 troops in Syria, and the country has become a scene for the U.S. wars in the region, including a U.S.-led campaign on the Islamic State group and the formation of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Turkey, which views Kurdish groups an existential threat to its national security and territorial integrity, was angered by the U.S. support to the Kurdish forces. It launched a ground incursion into Syria and continued its air campaign on Kurdish forces in both Syria and Iraq.
Then came Jordan, which for years has fought drug smuggling along its borders with Syria. But the situation recently worsened, and the kingdom took a step further: launching airstrikes on smuggling groups inside Syria.
The multi-party escalation shows that Syria’s relative stability in recent years is not permanent, and that a failure to stabilize the Middle East means new strikes on Syria. The Gaza war has proved that theory.
