Assad asked for help from the Iranians - and now wonders how to get rid of them Israel today

The recent changes in Syria are no less dramatic.

After a decade-long, bloody civil war in Syria, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured and millions fled the country, President Bashar Assad returned to power.

He is now trying to assert his sovereignty over the country also over the factors that helped him along the way, such as Iran.

Assad's move is very interesting, given the fact that he owes the Iranians and Hezbollah quite a bit. As you may recall, at the beginning of the civil war in Syria, Assad suffered many defeats, but later Iran, Hezbollah and even Russia came to his aid and led him to victory. Iran and Hezbollah began intervening in Syria as early as 2012 through military advice, the transfer of weapons, economic assistance and combat forces that arrived on the scene. Not long after, Russia also recognized the opportunity to make an impact in the region, and began pouring in equipment, weapons and forces. In practice, the intervention of external forces, especially Russian ones, saved the Assad regime and regained control of the country.

Since 2018, the Syrian regime has been working to re-establish its sovereignty over the country and rehabilitate the Syrian army.

At this time, not all the territories that were under Assad's sovereignty before the Civil War returned to him, but he is doing everything possible to regain control.

The Iranians, for their part, have become accustomed to doing their thing in Syria, and in recent years have begun to establish themselves there and establish an infrastructure that is supposed to serve them on the day of command, also vis-à-vis Israel.

The Iranians are also using Syrian territory for the transfer of advanced weapons to Lebanon.

Trying to establish sovereignty.

Assad, Photo: IPI

As mentioned, although Assad owes Iran a great deal due to the help he received in his difficult moments, in recent times, it seems, he is no longer satisfied with its massive presence in his country.

This assessment, which also surfaced in Israeli intelligence, was publicly expressed last week with Assad's decision to oust the commander of the Iranian forces in Syria, Mustafa Javad Rafari, due to "excessive activism and undermining of Syrian sovereignty."

This development shows that the interests of the Syrians and Russians merge to some extent with the interests of Israel, which, as is well known, has recently increased its pace of attacks in Syria to push the Iranians out of the country and disrupt the transfer of advanced weapons to Shiite militias in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

However, the fact that Assad is dissatisfied with the Iranian presence in Syria does not prevent him from ordering his army to open anti-aircraft fire at Israeli aircraft attacking Syria, and during the attacks dozens of surface-to-air missiles are fired at Israeli aircraft. The Air Force reports that compared to the past, the Syrian response is faster and the response time of the Syrians is shortened by about 20 percent. To herself.

Good coordination between Israel and Russia

In view of the great difficulties that the Iranians have been facing in Syria recently, the rate of their establishment in the country is not only not rising, but is also declining.

Iran is unlikely to disappear from Syria, and in practice Tehran is trying to find tactical solutions to reduce the vulnerability and make it harder for the Air Force to act against it.

One of the tactics that Iran is taking is to bring its assets closer to Russian bases, where the IDF is more careful not to harm, God forbid, the targets belonging to Russia.

If in the not-too-distant past it seemed that the Russians were expressing dissatisfaction with Israeli activity in Syria, recently it seems that Israel has received a green light from Moscow, and Israeli attacks in Syria do not stop - despite Iranian efforts to get closer to Russian bases.

This also indicates good and close coordination between Israel and the Russians through the "hot line" between the two countries, as well as the precision and great sophistication of the Air Force in planning the attacks in Syria.

The one that is still in Syria, but less involved in what is happening, is the United States, which is mainly in the al-Tanf area. According to various reports, Israel occasionally attacks from the area where the Americans are. Through UAVs, and apparently, thanks to early information passed to the Americans, they managed to evacuate their men from the place.

In a similar attack, attributed to Iran, the home of the Iraqi prime minister, who is taking an independent line in his attitude toward Iran, was bombed.

Although Israel was interested in greater US involvement in the region, the Americans were content at this point with only condemnation, presumably because Iran is not currently their priority.

One way or another, the Israeli attacks in Syria are likely to continue, both because of the operational need, because of the merging of interests with the Syrians and Russians and also in favor of a certain release of steam against the Iranians, who continue their nuclear program.