Not only into Damascus, but into the world.

From every credible indication, al-Sharaa is trying to internationalize Syria, economically, politically, and diplomatically. He’s lobbying for trade, courting Western governments, and talking openly about modernization, transparency, and inclusion. This isn’t window dressing for foreign cameras. It’s a strategic reorientation, and by all appearances, he means it.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/new-pragmatism-reshaping-syria-risks-ahead-opinion-2113622

The post The New Pragmatism Reshaping Syria, and the Risks Ahead first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Grandi said he discussed with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “how to increase opportunities” to now return home for an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon for safety when an uprising in 2011 quickly turned into civil war.

“Many refugees have already made that choice,” he said on his X account. “But for returns to be sustainable, Syria needs more and faster international support.”

Grandi noted in a separate X post that it was “a sign of hope amid rising regional tensions” that the 2 million people have returned home.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/06/19/lebanon-syria-refugees-return-home/8021750356405/

The post U.N. refugee chief: 2 million Syrians have returned home first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

More than 50 years of Assad family rule in Syria collapsed with astonishing speed after insurgents burst out of a rebel-held enclave in the country’s north, capturing Aleppo and a string of other cities in a matter of days, before converging on Damascus.

Opposition forces entered the capital with little or no resistance on Sunday as the Syrian army melted away and President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s ruler for 24 years, fled the country. His sudden demise marks a stunning development in Syria’s devastating 14-year conflict, which began with Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring.

The speed of the rebels’ victory has highlighted Islamist leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani’s success in shoring up a rebellion that looked to be cornered in its last bastion in northwestern Syria. It also exposed the weakness of the Assad regime and just how reliant it was on support from Iran and Russia – which at the crucial moment did not come.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20241208-why-the-assad-regime-collapsed-in-syria-and-why-so-fast

The post Why the Assad regime collapsed in Syria – and why so fast first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Assad, who inherited the office from his father in 2000, reportedly slipped out of Syria early Sunday morning as rebels closed in on his palace. He arrived in Moscow later in the day, according Russian state news agency Tass.

A longtime protector of the Assad regime’s, Moscow has granted the 59-year-old and his family asylum after they made their way to the city by private jet, the news agencies reported.

Rebels stormed through the gates of Damascus Sunday where they were met with no resistance from the government’s army. Most gunfire crackling through the streets has come from celebratory shots in the air, while crowds have filled the city squares waving revolutionary flags and chanting “freedom.”

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/12/08/world-news/bashar-al-assad-and-family-granted-asylum-in-russia-reports/

The post Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and family in Moscow after Russia granted them asylum: reports first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In remarks delivered Tuesday during a visit to Israel’s Northern Command, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi spoke out in response to the launching of two rockets from Lebanese territory toward Israel’s Western Galilee region. The IDF said late Monday, early Tuesday local time, one rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Defense System, while the other landed in an open field.

The hostilities are the latest to rock the volatile border between Israel and Lebanon, which has undergone a severe economic decline owing to a financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political paralysis among the country’s ruling class. Kovachi blamed the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement for the dire situation Lebanon faced.

“Lebanon is in the process of collapsing—a collapse Hezbollah has helped cause,” Kovachi said. “But we do not intend to allow, as a result of this collapse, the rocket fire that happened this morning.”

He warned of retaliation seen and unseen.

“We will respond both overtly and covertly to any violation of Israeli sovereignty from Lebanon, whoever it may be,” Kovachi said.

Shortly after the rocket barrage across the border, the IDF said it conducted artillery fire on Lebanese territory.

The attacks from both sides of the border were confirmed to Newsweek at the time by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

“Just before 4 a.m. this morning, UNIFIL radar detected the firing of rockets from an area north-west of Al Qulaylah toward Israel,” a UNIFIL spokesperson said. “Our radar subsequently detected return artillery fire by the IDF.”

The force, which is tasked with patrolling the restive border on behalf of the U.N., said it was working to prevent further escalation.

“UNIFIL is in direct contact with the parties to urge maximum restraint and avoid further escalation,” the spokesperson said. “Our liaison and coordination mechanisms are fully engaged. Together with the Lebanese Armed Forces, we have increased security in the area and have launched an investigation.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces’ Orientation Directorate later released a statement of their own regarding the series of events.

“On 07/20/2021, between the hours of 3.35 and 4.45, the area of ​​Wadi Hamul, Tel Armiz, was bombarded by the Israeli enemy artillery. No casualties or damage were reported,” the statement said. “The area was targeted with 12 155-caliber artillery shells, against the background of the enemy’s allegations that two missiles fell in the occupied territories, originating from Lebanon.”

The Lebanese military then appeared to corroborate the Israeli and UNIFIL account with the discovery of a smoking gun: three devices designed to launch 122mm Grad rockets, one of which had yet to be launched and was subsequently disabled by army units.

A Grad rocket is seen after being discovered July 20 by the Lebanese Armed Forces near Al-Qaliyah, south of Tyre, amid reports of a rocket attack toward Israel and retaliatory Israeli artillery fire against Lebanon.LEBANESE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

The official Lebanese National News agency also reported Tuesday that Lebanese soldiers had set up checkpoints along roads in the area to check vehicle registration and identity cards.

No nation, group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which are reminiscent of three similar rocket launches conducted in May amid a raging battle between Israeli forces and Palestinian factions led by the Hamas movement in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters also stormed across the security fence from Lebanon, drawing IDF artillery fire that killed at least one person.

Later on Tuesday, the Lebanese Armed Forces also accused Israel of violating Lebanon’s airspace via an “enemy reconnaissance aircraft” that flew over the southern town of Naqoura.

State-run media recorded further incidents including the firing of a smoke bomb near a shepherd in the Barakat al-Naqar locality outside the town of Shebaa and the firing of weapons in Syria’s Golan Heights, which has been under Israeli control since 1967.

The Lebanese report noted that such activity in the Golan Heights often coincides with Israeli military drills, which the IDF conducted in the disputed region Tuesday.

Like Lebanon, Syria remains technically at war with Israel since 1948, when a coalition of Arab states first went to war over Israel’s establishment on territory also claimed by Palestinians.

Two more Arab-Israeli conflicts were fought in 1967 and 1971, and Israel fought another two conflicts in Lebanon itself, initially taking on Palestinian guerillas and Hezbollah, which remains active today across southern Lebanon.

While the Israel-Lebanon border remains tense, Israel has regularly conducted airstrikes in Syria, which was struck just hours before Tuesday’s rocket launches against Israel from Lebanon.

Asked for comment at the time, the IDF told Newsweek that “we do not comment on reports in the foreign media.”

The Syrian Defense Ministry, however, swiftly blamed the attack on Israel and said most of the incoming missiles were downed by anti-air defenses as they targeted Aleppo province’s Al-Safira region.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry lashed out at Israel over its alleged involvement in the air raid, accusing the country of aiding militant groups such as the Islamic State and Nusra Front, violating international law, and disrespecting the Eid al-Adha Islamic holiday.

“The Syrian Arab Republic considers this aggression as an Israeli declaration of bankruptcy and a declaration of the defeat of the Western-Israeli subversive project,” the statement said, “and warns ‘Israel’ of the dangerous repercussions resulting from persisting in its attacks under false pretexts, and of its continuous support for armed terrorist organizations, and of its continued occupation of Arab lands, including in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

The ministry called on the U.N. Security Council “to assume its responsibilities within the framework of the United Nations Charter, the most important of which is to maintain international peace and security, to condemn and be held accountable for the blatant Israeli attacks, to take firm and immediate measures to prevent their recurrence and to oblige Israel to respect its resolutions, and to hold it accountable for its terrorism and crimes against the Syrian people.”

Israel has accused Syria of harboring Iran-backed forces setting up forward operating bases and transferring weapons throughout their stated mission of supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his decade-long civil war against rebels and jihadis.

Israel’s ally, the United States, is also active in Syria and has conducted airstrikes against suspected Iran-backed militias in response to rocket attacks against U.S. positions in Iraq. While Washington maintains a partnership with Baghdad, it has severed ties with Assad’s government in Damascus and instead works with a mostly Kurdish militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

As for Lebanon, the U.S. has joined Israel in expressing frustration over the influence of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in the country.

On Tuesday, the White House extended a 14-year national emergency with respect to Lebanon “to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” according to a statement that echoed past renewals.

This threat was blamed on “the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon’s legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions; to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation; to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon; or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty.”

“Such actions,” the statement asserted, “contribute to political and economic instability in that country and the region.

And the White House, like in prior years, took particular aim at Hezbollah and Iran.

“Certain ongoing activities, such as Iran’s continuing arms transfers to Hizballah — which include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems — serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in the region, and continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the statement said.

Israeli soldiers take part in a military drill near Moshav Odem in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on July 20. Israel seized the territory from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in a 1981 move not recognized internationally except for the U.S.JALAA MAREY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

As Lebanon’s woes continued to mount, the country’s political plight took yet another apparent turn for the worse on Thursday when Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri offered his resignation to President Michel Aoun. Hariri has twice before served as premier and ultimately resigned from his post both times.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Hariri’s latest decision to step down as “yet another disappointing development for the Lebanese people.”

“It is critical that a government committed and able to implement priority reforms be formed now,” the top U.S. diplomat said. “The government must also start preparing for the 2022 parliamentary elections, which should be held on time and conducted in a free and fair manner.”

Blinken issued an appeal to Lebanese leaders to overcome their differences for the common cause of salvaging the country.

“Lebanon’s political class has squandered the last nine months. The Lebanese economy is in free-fall, and the current government is not providing basic services in a reliable fashion,” he said. “Leaders in Beirut must urgently put aside partisan differences and form a government that serves the Lebanese people. That is what the people of Lebanon desperately need.”

A Hezbollah flag flutters on the Lebanese side of the border fence with Israel, near the northern Israeli settlement of Shtula on July 20. Israel shelled Lebanon early that same day in response to earlier rocket attacks, the Israeli army said, as the United Nations urged all sides to show “maximum restraint.”JALAA MAREY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/israel-threatens-lebanon-over-rocket-attacks-syria-warns-israel-against-airstrikes-1611665?piano_t=1

The post Israel Threatens Lebanon Over Rocket Attacks, Syria Warns Israel Against Airstrikes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The United States and Russia reached a last-minute compromise Friday to keep humanitarian aid flowing for another year from Turkey to millions of people in northwestern Syria.

In a unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council approved a draft resolution extending the cross-border aid operation. In a rare twist, the U.S. and Russia came together to put forward the compromise resolution, supported by Ireland and Norway, which hold the file on Syria’s humanitarian situation in the council and have guided months of negotiations.

The resolution reauthorizes the use of the Bab al-Hawa crossing point for another six months. It had been due to expire Saturday. It will then automatically be renewed for six more months – until July 2022. The U.N. secretary-general also is instructed to report to the council on the aid operation in January.

FILE – The U.N. Security Council meets at United Nations headquarters in New York, Feb. 26, 2020.

“Thanks to this resolution, millions of Syrians can breathe a sigh of relief tonight, knowing that vital humanitarian aid will continue to flow into Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing after tomorrow,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “And parents can sleep tonight knowing that for the next 12 months their children will be fed. The humanitarian agreement we’ve reached here will literally save lives.”

More than 3.4 million people live in the area outside government control serviced by the 1,000 aid trucks that cross through Bab al-Hawa each month.

Western countries also had sought to reopen the al-Yarubiyah crossing from Iraq to Syria, which had been used to bring medical supplies to 1.4 million people in the northeast, but that was lost in negotiations.

“Of course, like every political agreement, we continue to believe we could have done more, that more should be done, and we will continue work to make sure that humanitarian needs in Syria remain in focus,” Ireland’s Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason told reporters after the vote.

FILE – People enter Iraq from Syria at a border checkpoint in the city of al-Yarubiyah, 600 kms northwest of Baghdad, March 16, 2004.

Al-Yarubiyah and two other crossing points have been closed over the past two years under pressure from Moscow, which would like to see the entire cross-border aid operation shut down and all supplies flow through Damascus across conflict frontlines. The United Nations and aid groups say crossline operations are plagued with problems and cannot meet the soaring demand.

Turning point? 

Syria’s decadelong war has deepened divisions among the Security Council’s five permanent powers. Russia and China have sought to protect the regime of Bashar al-Assad, while Britain, France, and the United States have tried to rally council action to hold the regime accountable for chemical weapons attacks on civilians, military sieges, and other atrocities.

Those divisions have spilled over into the humanitarian dossier, making it one of the council’s most contentious. The seven-year-old aid operation regularly faces nail-biting questions of whether the humanitarian lifeline will be severed by a veto. So, it was all the more surprising to see the U.S. and Russia come together Friday to hammer out a compromise minutes before the vote.

“It’s important that the United States and Russia were able to come together on a humanitarian initiative that serves the interests of the Syrian people,” Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said. “And it’s an important moment for the U.N. and the Security Council – which today showed we can do more than just talk. We can work together to find solutions and deliver actions on the world’s most pressing challenges.”

FILE – A human chain is formed by workers from the civil society, humanitarian aid, and medical and rescue services in support of aid into Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, July 2, 2021.

Friday’s vote was the first time since 2016 that the council was able to unanimously reach a decision on extending the cross-border aid operation.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he was grateful to his American colleagues, who he said: “worked in the spirit of the Geneva summit” between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden.

“Today, we are witnessing a historical moment,” Nebenzia said. “For the first time, Russia and the United States not only managed to find an agreement but to present a joint text supported by all our colleagues in the council. We expect that this kind of day would become a turning point, that not only Syria will win from this, but the whole Middle Eastern region and the world as a whole.”

The White House has said that Biden raised the issue of the cross-border aid operation with Putin when they met on June 16, and Biden told him he sees it as an important issue. The two leaders spoke Friday by telephone and the White House said they commended the joint work of their teams following the summit, which led to the unanimous renewal of the Syrian aid operation.

The U.N. secretary-general’s spokesman said Antonio Guterres welcomed the council’s extension but noted that “needs continue to outstrip the response,” and that with additional crossings and more funding, the United Nations could do more to assist the rising number of Syrians in need.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/un-security-council-extends-cross-border-aid-syria-1-year

The post UN Security Council Extends Cross-border Aid to Syria for 1 Year first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In a separate move, it recently signed a migration agreement with Rwanda, leading to speculation that it intends to open an asylum-processing facility there.

Danish authorities notified Sara’s family in February that she, her parents, and younger siblings could no longer stay.

“All my life is here. How can I go back to Syria now?” says the 19-year-old, who speaks fluent Danish and is due to sit her final high-school exams next month. She dreams of becoming an architect, but after six years in Denmark her future in Denmark is now in doubt.

They are among more than 200 Syrian nationals who have had their residency withdrawn on the grounds that Damascus and the surrounding region are now considered safe.

Syrians who fled for Europe often left behind towns ruined by the conflict – EPA

---

Her father Mohammed was a lawyer in Syria but came to Denmark in 2014 when his life was endangered. The rest of the family fled the war a year later, travelling via Turkey and Greece.

Two weeks ago their appeal was rejected and they’ve been given 60 days to leave.

They fear arrest and torture under President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. “It’s risky for every single person who left Syria to go back,” she says.

Her father has been running a restaurant and said: “We stopped taking money from the [Danish] government four years ago.”

More than a decade after conflict broke out in Syria about 35,000 Syrian nationals live in Denmark.

Over the past year the immigration service has been reassessing the cases of more than 1,200 refugees from the wider Damascus region. “The conditions in Damascus in Syria are no longer so serious that there are grounds for granting or extending temporary residence permits,” it said.

Many of those with temporary refugee permits are women or elderly, as younger men who were at risk of military conscription were usually given different protection. The government says it has always been clear the protections it offered were temporary.

We are ready with a huge bag of travel money for those who have to go back and rebuild their lives in Syria

The post Denmark asylum: The Syrian refugees no longer welcome to stay first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

CAIRO/AMMAN – The Syrian army said Israel conducted a rocket attack Sunday evening on targets in the vicinity of Damascus.

A Syrian army statement said the attack came from the Golan Heights and that it downed most of the missiles.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment.

In a briefing to supporters of his party on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel was taking action “almost weekly” to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria.

Regional intelligence sources say Iran’s Quds Force and the militias it backs have spread in Syria in recent years, including a strong presence in a string of underground bases in the southern outskirts of Damascus.

In recent years, Israel has regularly attacked what it says are Iranian-linked targets in Syria and stepped up such strikes this year in what Western intelligence sources describe as a shadow war to reduce Iran’s influence.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has never publicly acknowledged there are Iranian forces operating on his behalf in Syria’s civil war, only that Tehran has sent military advisers.

Western intelligence sources say Israeli strikes this year have undermined Iran’s extensive military power in Syria without triggering a major increase in hostilities.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/syrian-army-says-israel-attacks-areas-around-southern-damascus

The post Syrian Army Says Israel Attacks Areas Around Southern Damascus first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, Russia September 12, 2019.

The post Russia wants to show who’s the boss – Analysis first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The conflict in Syria has seen the convergence of multiple, sometimes opposing forces in the skies over a near-decade-long civil war that today threatens to draw the United States’ foreign policy resources back into the quagmire, one in which its closest ally, Israel, and a leading rival, Russia, are among those operating in dangerous proximity.

The sudden roar of jets and missile blasts have become an all too common feature of Syria’s ongoing war, and last week’s attacks across the country’s southwest served as an explosive reminder of the war’s lingering violence. The airstrikes, which were unclaimed but widely blamed on Israel, targeted positions near the Golan Heights and Damascus International Airport, where Israel has accused Iran-linked elements of storing and transporting weapons.

While the attacks were intended to cause harm on the ground, one senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, raised concerns about the sheer volume of air traffic caused by Israel’s semi-secret bombing campaign while the Russian and Syrian air forces carry out their own missions.

The official told Newsweek that, at the time, “the U.S. observed a significant increase in military air activity over Syria, including forces from Israel and Russia in addition to Syrian aircraft.”

The increased traffic made a mishap more likely, the official said.

“The airspace was saturated above daily norms,” the official said, “presenting an elevated opportunity of miscalculation or perhaps the misidentification of targets by all entities.”

The U.S. operates in Syria today as part of a multinational coalition tasked with the defeat of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in the country’s northeast. Russia and Syria also target ISIS in other parts of the country, along with other insurgent forces, some backed by Turkey. Iran supports this latter campaign on the ground, but its partnered militias are viewed as a threat and targeted by Israel.

The complex lines of control are blurred and have led to reports of up to 170 reported aviation and unmanned aerial vehicle incidents involving at least seven nations as well as non-state actors. On the ground in Syria, some worry a misunderstanding could always be mere moments away.

“About the crowded airspace over Syria, it’s always been a concern, notably after the U.S. stepped in Syria,” a Syrian source who asked to remain anonymous told Newsweek.

With so many countries operating in Syrian airspace, the chances of something going wrong are high, this source said.

And then add missiles to the mix.

“Now where Russia and the U.S. and Turkey and France, not to mention Israel, are all operating over/near Syria accidents are always possible,” the source added, “especially when the case involves air defense missiles. Once the missile is launched, there’s no turning back.”

A Russian Sukhoi Su-27 plane flies over Binnish during pro-government forces airstrikes on rebel-held areas surrounding the government-controlled town of Saraqeb, in the northwestern Idlib province on March 4, 2020. Russian and Syrian warplanes occasionally share the skies with Israeli forces targeting suspected Iran-linked positions and Syrian air defense sites. MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

There have already been a number of lethal, high-profile miscalculations, such as Syria’s accidental downing of a Russian spy plane during an Israeli raid in 2018. Others, such as the U.S. shoot-down of a Syrian jet allegedly flying over territory held by the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces the year prior, were deliberate escalations.

The Israeli and Syrian armed forces have also shot down one another’s warplanes. As yet, there have been no clashes between Israeli and Russian aircraft. But with an increased number of forays into Syria by Israel, such an incident cannot be ruled out.

To prevent this, the two countries have a coordination mechanism on Syria, the details of which are difficult to discern, especially given Moscow’s close ties to Damascus and strategic partnership with Tehran. At the same time, Russia has expressed its criticism of Israeli operations in the country.

“It is hard to deny that such actions further destabilize the complicated regional situation,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters amid an intensification of Israeli strikes in December.

Israel rarely discusses the specifics of its Syria operations, but an Israeli military official told Newsweek that the country’s communications with Russia have mitigated the risk to both sides.

“We do indeed have a deconfliction mechanism with the Russian military which facilitates our freedom of action while minimizing the risk of friction with Russian troops, and promotes mutual safety,” the Israeli military official said. “So far, it has been very effective and withstood challenging circumstances in a very dense battlespace.”

Newsweek also spoke last month with an Israeli security official who discussed the challenges of target selection in Syria given the ambiguity surrounding the conflict there, where local troops, Iranian personnel, fighters of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement, and sometimes Russian forces are operating.

“[The Syrian army] gives [Hezbollah] a lot of space to do what they want, and it makes life a bit uncomfortable,” the Israeli security official said at the time. “It’s a big problem for us to actually decide who to strike and what to do.”

Syria’s permanent mission to the United Nations has condemned what it called “acts of aggression perpetrated by Israel” in past statements sent to Newsweek.

On the ground, a second Syrian source who requested anonymity described the layout of this stretch of Syria’s air activity, where not only military-to-military incidents but those involving military and civilian airlines are “a very common thing.”

The Syrian government’s aerial operations over its own country are limited. Restricted areas include the autonomous northeast, a U.S.-controlled southeast desert pocket, and a northern border stretch occupied by rebels, jihadis and Turkish troops, the second source said.

Syrian jets also operate along the southern and western borders, as well as off the Mediterranean coast, but this source noted any activity too close to Lebanese or Israeli borders would be met with an Israeli military response.

The second source said the Russians don’t share these limitations—or any, for that matter.

“There are some restrictions beyond our waters, there are some restrictions over Lebanon, over the south,” the second source explained. “While for Russia there are no restrictions at all. They are more free than us.”

This freedom extends to and beyond Syria’s exclusive economic zone as well, where “U.S. spy planes are also flying,” this source said.

An Israeli airstrike strikes “military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds Force & Syrian Armed Forces in Syria” on November 18, 2020, according to the IDF. Israel has accused Syria of allowing Iran and its regional partners to transport advanced weapons and set up forward operating bases in the country. ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES

The U.S. and Russia have their own deconfliction channels, both for air and ground operations in Syria’s northeast, where tensions between the two countries and their respective allies have mounted in recent months. The two countries have largely pursued their campaigns separately, but have had occasional dust-ups, some of which have been violent.

For other parties, however, there is little to no communication at all, greatly increasing the risk to both armed forces and civilians.

“Unlike the case between Russia and the U.S. where a direct line of communication between the two is existing and minor incidents can be easily stopped before escalation,” the first Syrian source told Newsweek, “the aerial clashes between the two adversaries, i.e. Syria and Israel, have always placed the regional civilian flights in danger.”

“Israeli jets flying in a civilian corridor or near a civilian plane and Syrian missiles seeking after a big radar pulse after missing their locked targets or crashing into a house, you name it,” the first source said. “Errors are possible and will always be costly.”

While Moscow’s mission in Syria to save President Bashar al-Assad‘s government from a nationwide insurrection has been clear from the start, Washington’s goals have shifted over the course of administrations. Former President Barack Obama initially sought to topple Assad by supporting insurgents but switched to an anti-ISIS mission later carried out by former President Donald Trump, who expressed a desire to withdraw but kept up to 900 troops behind to guard oil and gas sites.

President Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president, has offered no indication of ending U.S. presence in Syria, despite Damascus’ calls for withdrawal. The new U.S. leadership has also not signaled a willingness to become further involved in the conflict.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, a State Department spokesperson detailed three aims of President Joe Biden’s administration in Syria.

First, “The United States is committed to a political settlement in line with UNSCR 2254 to end the conflict in Syria, in close consultation with our allies, partners, and the U.N.,” the spokesperson said.

Second, “We will use the tools at our disposal, including economic pressure, to push for meaningful reform and accountability for the Assad regime,” according to the statement.

Third, “The United States and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS continue to work with our increasingly capable local partners to maintain constant pressure on ISIS remnants in Syria to ensure ISIS’s lasting defeat,” as relayed to Newsweek by the State Department spokesperson.

But U.S. officials have routinely declined to discuss the role in Syria played by Israel, a country the Biden administration has reaffirmed a longstanding pact to defend. Israel went entirely unmentioned in the Pentagon‘s latest quarterly report to Congress detailing U.S. military missions in Iraq and Syria, despite including references to the other major actors, including Iran, Russia, and Turkey.

Reached for comment by Newsweek, the U.S. Central Command declined to discuss the specifics of air operations over the stretch of the country frequented by Russian and Israeli jets.

“I am going to decline to comment on the air space over Western Syria,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views and editorial stance of the SOHR.

Source: An Unintended Syria Air Clash Could Pull Biden Into Conflict Involving Russia, Israel

Source: https://www.syriahr.com/en/204739/

The post An Unintended Syria Air Clash Could Pull Biden Into Conflict Involving Russia, Israel first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.