By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent
JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS (Worthy News) – Israel has warned that it will destroy Syrian President Bashar Assad’s “regime” if Syria gets involved in the Gaza war, diplomats said Monday.
“The Israelis clearly warned Assad that if Syria was used against them, they would destroy his regime,” a Western diplomatic official told media on condition of anonymity.
Recent months saw several strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, widely blamed on Israel.
The attacks culminated in an April 1 Israeli airstrike that leveled a building next to Tehran’s consulate in Damascus and killed seven commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, two of them generals.
Iran responded by firing a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones in response around midnight on April 13, backed by several groups in the region.
Israel’s leadership said, “Iran supports terror groups” such as Hamas, which on October 7 killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more in Israel.
Israel has vowed to “eradicate Hamas,” which controls Gaza.
RUSSIAN ROLE
Despite Arab anger over Israel’s attacks, Syria’s main ally, Russia, maintains diplomatic ties with Israel and reportedly also pushed for stability in Syria’s south, which borders the Golan Heights.
Syria appears to have heeded Russia and the United Arab Emirates to remain out of the Israel war in Gaza against Hamas. Its border with the Golan Heights remains relatively calm despite a handful of strikes launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah-allied groups.
Syria also does not want to become part of a regional conflict as it returned to the Arab fold, seeking better ties with wealthy Gulf states, say observers familiar with the situation. Assad hopes Arab nations can help fund Syria’s post-war reconstruction — although Western sanctions will likely deter investment, according to sources familiar with the case.
In 2018, the United Arab Emirates re-established ties with Syria, and it has been leading the charge to reintegrate Damascus into the 22-member-strong Arab League.
Syria has had a problematic relationship with Hamas, whose October 7 onslaught on southern Israel triggered the war, but Hamas and Assad reconciled in 2022.
The reconciliation came a decade after Hamas, long allied with Damascus, broke ties over its suppression of mainly Sunni Muslim protests that triggered Syria’s civil war.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza claimed Monday that the Israeli military operations launched in October killed 34,488 Palestinians while 77,643 were injured.
The war reportedly displaced most of the 2.3 million population in Gaza. Ongoing clashes laid much of the enclave to waste, with Hamas hiding in tunnels and elsewhere between civilian sites such as hospitals, schools, and churches.
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