Israel DM Warns Syria Will Rebuild Its Military After War

Says Syria 'not satisfied' with just recovering lost territory

Speaking on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Syria of planning to rebuild its army after the end of the Syrian War, and predicted that it might not only be as large as the pre-war military, but might even be bigger.

Specifics are very limited in this comment, which seems to just be Lieberman setting the stage for more military confrontations in the future.He accused Syria of being “not satisfied with taking control of all of the Syrian territory.”

Syria hasn’t actually done that yet, with rebels still controlling parts of the north. Yet even if they had, it would not be surprising for the Assad government to take the lesson out of the bloody multi-year war that they need to be prepared for large-scale conflict.

This is doubly an issue for Syria because Israel spent the better part of the war openly hoping ISIS would defeat them, and the past several months repeatedly attacking Syrian military targets at every opportunity. The end of the war within Syria doesn’t mean Syria won’t still have enemies abroad, and Israel is clearly one that believes it can attack Syria whenever it feels like it with no repercussions.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.