Israel Threatens to Ramp Up Strikes in Syria

Accuses Syria of 'cooperating' with Iran

After carrying out three attacks on Syria in the past week, Israel issued a statement Thursday threatening even further ramping up of such operations going forward.

Israel rarely comments on why they’re attacking Syria, but the narrative is familiar. Israel says they’re attacking because of Iran and warns Syria to stop cooperating with Iran’s weapons transfers to Hezbollah.

This is all built around Israel’s hostility toward a “Shi’ite” belt of nations, from Lebanon to Syria to Iraq and Iran. Though this has been a pretext to intervene in Syria’s War. Israel was attacking places over the Iran-Hezbollah allegations well before the war began.

This is an  issue because Israel goes to war with Hezbollah often, and is forever readying a war with Iran. Busy with its own war, Syria seems a convenient target.

Israel is in no place to judge weapons smuggling at any rate, as a recipient of US arms for years, and nowhere else do such shipments serve as a pretext for military action.

The dubious nature of Israel’s attacks is a big reason they often don’t talk about their attacks, and all three previous attacks passed without comment.

Looming large in Israeli attacks on Syria is Russia. Russia has warned Israel against targeting parts of Syria and provided the country with defensive missiles. The recent attacks may represent a test of Russia’s willingness to keep warning Israel when they’re busy with other issues around Ukraine.

Israel seems keen to attack Syria often, even if they don’t do much and don’t kill anyone. This gives politicians the talking point that they’re doing something to Iran, even if Iran rarely gets hit in the strikes.

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.