The next battle in Syria
With the war on the Islamic State winding down, other tensions in Syria are dialing up as Israel and Turkey worry over forces amassing on their borders.
Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed Nov. 22 on fighting terrorist groups in Syria at a tripartite presidential meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Nearly concomitantly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to a possible action in Syria against Iran and its proxies, against the backdrop of a US escalation on Iran. As the war on the Islamic State (IS) in Syria winds down, will the next regional “terror” focus be on Kurdish and Shiite militias?
The fall of much of IS territory in November to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or to forces aligned with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad heralds a new tug of war between international and regional powers in Syria.
At the meeting in Sochi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Turkey would not accept the existence of “terrorist groups in Syria,” referring to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Around the same date, Israeli media reported increasing threats voiced by Israeli security figures of a possible major strike on Iranian presence in southern Syria, while the United States has been much more vocal about rolling back Iran.
On Nov. 26, the Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu warned Assad that Israel will intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war if the Syrian president gives formal permission to Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.
