Syria

Spotlight on Iran (December 15, 2019 – December 29, 2019)

Iranian-Israeli confrontation in Syria: Ali-Akbar Velayati, the Senior Adviser on International Affairs of the Supreme Leader of Iran, warned in an interview to a Following a pause lasting eight years, the Iranian Pilgrimage Organization renewed sending Iranian pilgrims to visits in the Shi’ite holy sites in Syria. Iran continues to try and influence the process of appointing a temporary prime minister in Iraq, in an effort to protect Iran’s interests in the country. The Spokesman of Iraq’s Joint Operation’s, that the security cooperation between Iraq, Iran, Russia and Syria is continuing at the highest levels in an effort to maintain stability along the Iraq-Syria border and to prevent ISIS from gaining a foothold in the region. Read more...

Additional Syrian army attack against the rebel organizations (update)

So far, over 40 towns and villages have been taken over in the Syrian army offensive east and southeast of the city of Maarat Nu'man, near the M-5 highway to Aleppo and Idlib . In the ITIC's assessment, the objective of the Syrian army attack is to establish its presence on the M-5 highway leading northward, take over Maarat Nu’man, and prepare for the attack on Idlib, the rebel stronghold, with the aim of achieving a decisive victory in the campaign which has been going on for about seven months. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (December 19-25, 2019

The main event in the Syrian arena was a large-scale attack by the Syrian army against the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and other rebel organizations, east and southeast of the city of Maarat Nu'man. In the Euphrates Valley, ISIS continued its intensive activity against the SDF forces, consisting mainly of shooting attacks, attacking headquarters, eliminating soldiers and intelligence personnel and attacking convoys and checkpoints. On December 22, 2019, ISIS launched a “campaign of revenge” for the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir. So far, some 60 attacks have been carried out as part of the campaign, most of them in Syria and Iraq Read more...

Additional Syrian army attack against the rebel organizations in the Idlib region (initial overview)

On December 20, 2019, the Syrian army launched an attack against the rebel organizations in the Idlib region, in continuation of the ground offensive carried out over the last month. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (December 12-18, 2019)

In the Syrian arena, ISIS continues its intensive activity, mainly in the area of Al-Mayadeen, in the Euphrates Valley. In the Iraqi arena, ISIS continues its intensive activity, with an emphasis on the Diyala Province north of Baghdad. At the same time, ISIS’s provinces in Africa and Asia continued their routine activity. Read more...

Spotlight on Iran (December 1 –15, 2019)

Iran is continuing to try to minimize the impact of the ongoing protests in Iraq on Iranian interests in the country, and particularly economic interests. Against the backdrop of ongoing Iranian efforts to entrench its foothold in Albu Kamal, on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Iraqi border, Arab media outlets reported about recent strikes carried out against targets linked to Iran and pro-Iranian militias. A Lebanese news website reported about an unusual deployment of Hezbollah and forces linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force near the town of Rankous on the Qalamoon mountain range, north of Damascus, ahead of a possible revenge attack in retaliation to IDF strikes in Syria. Read more...

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Syria

Syria is a central factor in the Arab-Israeli conflict and has been in conflict with the State of Israel since its establishment. Syria’s basic position rejects the Zionist idea and views the State of Israel as a foreign element that must be uprooted. Since its establishment, Syria has led the political and military struggle against pre-state Israel and the State of Israel. Syria is demanding that Israel give up its control over an area of about 1,200 square kilometers in the Golan Heights, which was occupied by Israel in 1967. In view of its profound hostility to Israel, Syria has supported the Palestinian terrorist organizations and Hezbollah for many years. Syria was designated as a terrorism-supporting state by the US State Department back in 1979.

Despite repeated attempts since the early 1990s to reach a peace agreement with Syria, an official state of war still exists between it and Israel. These relations have been influenced by the involvement of elements such as the Soviet Union and Iran, Syria’s relations with other Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon) and its relations with the Palestinians. These relations have also been influenced by the fact that Syria perceives Israel’s territory as part of what it calls Greater Syria.

Since early 2011, there has been a civil war in Syria between President Bashar Assad and the forces loyal to him, and rebel organizations with various ideologies and political orientation. The civil war has led to the destruction of the country’s infrastructure, the removal of Syria from the Arab League, and tension in its relations with Sunni countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey). Syria’s relations with the United States and Western countries have also deteriorated. On the other hand, the Syrian regime is supported by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, and by Shiite militias supported by Iran.