With negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program stalled and the world's attention focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel appears to be intensifying its military activity in Syria. According to foreign news reports, Israel has not only upped the pace of its strikes on Iranian-linked targets there but has also improved their quality, hitting the Damascus international airport several times in recent weeks and disrupting its operations.

Israel has been waging its “war between the wars” with Iran over the past decade at various degrees of intensity. They are reportedly intended to prevent the transfer of Iranian weaponry to its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Apparently in order to avoid embarrassing the Syrian regime and forestall its motivation to retaliate, Israel has not assumed public responsibility for these activities, except in unusual cases in which it felt it necessary to do so.

Israel has been conducting its campaign against Iran’s weapons supplies to Hezbollah on land, sea and in the air. According to foreign press reports, Israel occasionally bombs truck convoys making their way to Lebanon through central Syria and even close to its border with Iraq. The Israeli navy also reportedly operates in the Red Sea to intercept such shipments, and several strikes on the Syrian port of Latakia have been attributed to Israeli forces.

Iran has been seeking alternative supply routes, especially to transfer components for Hezbollah’s so-called precision missile project. The project is of great concern to Israel because of its potential to turn some of the thousands of rockets in the group’s arsenals into precise projectiles capable of direct hits on the Israeli heartland during a future war, paralyzing critical infrastructure.