Syrians Fear Israel Normalization Could Trigger Another Countrywide War
Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reports that normalization with Syria and Lebanon is on the table, as Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees with Washington on a hoped-for expansion of the Abraham Accords.
'Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalization,' Saar said. Israel had already signed deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – the result of Trump's first term in office.
'We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors – to the circle of peace and normalization while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests,' Saar added.
PM Netanyahu himself has recently said that the June war with Iran had opened 'the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accord.'
From a strategic point of view, Tel Aviv wants to isolate any Arab country which remains resistant and critical of its war in Gaza.
Going back to Hafez al-Assad who ruled Syria since 1970, Ba'ath-ruled Syria had long been Israel's fiercest enemy and neighbor, with the two having fought several wars.
The average Syrian has long been hugely critical of Zionism and Israeli expansionism, particularly since it came under control of the Golan Heights.
Now under President Sharaa, hundreds of foreign jihadist groups are running around Syria, often persecuting Christians, Alawites, and Druze as Sharaa's HTS government in Damascus turns a blind eye.
ISIS is also a continuing reality in parts of Syria – though Sharaa himself is 'former'-ISIS, as are some government ministers and officials.
Strangely, or perhaps unsurprisingly given it was at one point a tool of the US regime change war on Damascus, the Islamic State has never really waged a terror war against Israel. The reality is that Israel was also a big player in the CIA's regime change operations, dubbed 'Timber Sycamore'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Insider
3 hours ago
- Gulf Insider
Putin Shifts Iran Stance? Now Reportedly Supports Zero Enrichment Plan Backed By US
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told President Trump that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, according to US officials who spoke to Axios. However, amid reports saying that the same message has been conveyed to Tehran, Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim denied it, quoting an 'informed source' as saying Putin had not sent any such messages. Russia has long advocated that Iran should have the right to enrich, so Putin signing off on this 'zero enrichment' US plan marks what could be a significant shift, and much tougher position. Presumably a scheme like this would involve an external power like Russia shipping in the enriched product needed for nuclear energy plants. In the wake of the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict, which ended with the US bombing three key Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump has declared as his red line that the Islamic Republic no longer enrich uranium. Moscow, which has long acted as a diplomatic go-between involving Iran and the US, appears to now side with this US position as a way forward: Citing three European officials and one senior Israeli official familiar with the matter, the outlet reported that Moscow has encouraged Tehran to accept the 'zero-enrichment' condition. 'We know that this is what Putin told the Iranians,' a senior Israeli official was quoted as saying. But again, the Iranians appear to be denying this, based on current state media reports. The basic framework of 'deals' Washington has offered the Iranians is said to be that Tehran must abandon any all efforts for highly enriched uranium in return for sanctions relief. 'Putin supports the no-enrichment option. He encouraged the Iranians to move in this direction to facilitate dialogue with the U.S. But Tehran refused even to consider this possibility.' – European official But the Iranians have also been demanding answers to the question of when and how these layers of sanctions will be removed by Washington. Iranian leaders also don't trust the US, given a history of flip-flopping on key agreements like the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, which Trump pulled out of in 2018, during his first term. Tehran is expected to reject taking enrichment down to zero, considering it sees as a matter of national sovereignty, but may agree to impose limits on enrichment and a monitoring regimen – though it just reportedly kicked UN IAEA inspectors out of the country.
Daily Tribune
11 hours ago
- Daily Tribune
Iran's cooperation with IAEA to take ‘new form'
Iran said yesterday its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 'will take on a new form', expressing a desire for a diplomatic solution to resolve concerns over its nuclear programme. Iran's 12-day war with Israel last month, sparked by an Israeli bombing campaign that hit military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, rattled its already shaky relationship with the UN nuclear watchdog. The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations, which have since stalled. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said yesterday that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA 'has not stopped, but will take on a new form', after the Islamic republic formally ended cooperation with the UN watchdog in early July. Iran has blamed the IAEA in part for the June attacks on its nuclear facilities, which Israel says it launched to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon - an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied. The US, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz. Araghchi said requests to monitor nuclear sites 'will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis... taking into account safety and security issues', and be managed by Iran's Supreme National Security Council. In early July, a team of IAEA inspectors left Iran to return to the organisation's headquarters in Vienna after Tehran suspended cooperation. The talks were aimed at regulating Iran's nuclear activites in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Before agreeing to any new meeting, 'we are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires', said Araghchi.
Daily Tribune
12 hours ago
- Daily Tribune
Gaza ceasefire talks stall
AFP | Gaza Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Israel's proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions said yesterday. Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas's deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Israel has meanwhile kept up its strikes on Gaza and the territory's civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed yesterday, including in an air strike on an area sheltering the displaced. 'We all generally came here because we were told it was a safe area,' Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the overnight attack in an area of Gaza City. 'While we were sleeping, there was an explosion... where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying. We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered,' he added. In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried, AFP photographs showed. If an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached, both Hamas and Israel have said 10 hostages taken in 2023 who remain alive in captivity would be released. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities. But one Palestinian source, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the talks, said Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza was holding back progress. A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the Qatari capital. 'The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel's insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,' the first source said. They added that Israel was proposing to maintain military forces in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
