The Electronic Intifada
Israel strikes Syria but Iran is the target
Omar Karmi Power Suits 12 February 2018
The Trump administration claimed Israel’s attack on Syria was an act of
self-defense. (White House Photo)
As the dust begins to settle after a weekend in which Israel “defended” itself
over another country’s sovereign territory, a region in dangerous flux is just
that little bit more unstable.
Predictably, everyone claimed victory as yet another wave of airstrikes hit
Syria. In reality, Israel – yet again – demonstrated its superior firepower,
but has been given food for thought by the downing of one of its fighter
planes, by Syrian government or Syrian government-allied forces. The Israeli
air force will understand that the unchallenged impunity with which it has
struck targets in Syria – acknowledged or not – for many years no longer quite
holds.
The weekend also suggests Russia is now an essential arbiter in the region
where nobody considers Syria’s borders anything other than lines on a map, and
preparations for a war on Iran progress.
Here are a few observations from the weekend.
Up is down
It apparently doesn’t matter what Israel does, it’s always self-defense.
In Israel’s telling, the sequence of events began early Saturday, when Israeli
forces spotted an Iranian drone entering Israeli airspace. The drone was shot
down and eight jets dispatched to wreak revenge, one of which, a US-supplied
F-16, was shot down on its way back.
Israeli forces then launched a second wave of attacks. According to reports,
those strikes destroyed half of Syria’s air defenses.
Israel has blamed Iran for sending the drone over Israeli airspace and downing
its jet. The Iranian foreign ministry called the accusation “ridiculous,” and
the alliance fighting on behalf of the Syrian government called it a “lie,”
saying it had dispatched the drone to fight Islamic State in eastern Syria and
that it never entered Israeli air space.
Nevertheless, Israel immediately received support from the White House for its
“right to defend itself.”
Whatever the case, to suggest that the drone, whatever its providence, wherever
its final demise, was the spark to conflagration is to ignore the 100 bombings
or so Israel has acknowledged carrying out in Syria since 2011, or those that
go back long before Syria’s own conflict began.
It is to ignore that Israel has been in illegal military occupation of Syrian
territory since 1967, land seized in a war Israel started.
Attack may well be the best form of defense, but it is still an attack. To
think otherwise is to believe that war is peace.
Russia matters more
In contrast to Washington’s uncritical support for Israel’s form of
“self-defense” that would have had no purchase on the other side, Russia was
the player to step in, so far successfully, to end the conflagration and insist
on respect for Syria’s territorial integrity.
With Russia’s military deeply enmeshed in Syria, it is in neither Israel’s nor
Russia’s interest to clash and both are very aware of the danger of
miscalculation. It is, however, in Moscow’s interests not to see its years of
costly and deadly efforts on behalf of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president,
and his government and allies, be laid to waste by an overzealous Israeli
military posture.
If the downing of a jet will cause Israel to exercise more restraint, Russia
will welcome it and the Syrian government will claim it as a victory. That in
turn should allow Moscow to dampen any enthusiasm in Syria for more.
Israel has made the point that it has superior firepower. It will be wary that
such firepower should directly harm Russian elements on the ground, potentially
provoking, for once, a military equal with firepower superior to its own.
Come fight, one and all
Syria is a free-for-all battlefield. Anyone with a weapon appears to be invited
to a horrific conflict that has seen Syrians bombed by nearly a dozen different
countries – the US military alliance in the east of the country includes
Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, France has
bombed targets in the country, Russia’s air force is in constant action, Turkey
has invaded the north, while Israel bombs at will – as well as their own
government.
The UN has yet again proven powerless even as the humanitarian situation only
gets worse.
This time it is Russia that keeps casting a Security Council veto, preventing
action, just as the US has done (many more times) on behalf of Israel.
International law is entirely absent. Regional order – knocked off balance by
the 2003 invasion of Iraq – is being reshaped here (as well as in Yemen) in a
series of proxy engagements and mini-conflicts that, aside from Syrians
fighting Syrians, take in almost all the region’s players: Turks fight Kurds,
Israel bombs Hizballah targets and Arab Gulf proxies take on Iranian-backed
forces.
It’s a mess and one that is far from over. And, with an overarching regional
narrative of Sunni versus Shia, one very much encouraged by Israel, promoted in
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE and with plenty of purchase in Washington, this
all seems preparation for more war.
It may get a whole lot worse.
