As the war imposed upon Israel by Iran and its network of terrorist proxies deepens, the shifting frontlines in Syria demand unwavering attention from Israeli defense planners and the wider international community. While headlines often focus on Gaza and Lebanon, the covert and overt battles playing out across Syrian territory form a critical theater in Israel’s ongoing fight for survival. In recent weeks, social media has circulated calls for further coverage of the events in Syria. Yet, as a prominent Israeli journalist reminded his followers, this deliberate focus is already a constant and urgent priority for Israel’s defense establishment. This report delves into Israel’s operations in Syria, the Israeli rationale for active engagement across its northeastern frontier, the complex roles of international actors, and the deepening strategic risk posed by Iran’s ambitions and its integration of terror organizations into the very fabric of the Syrian state.
The Context: Iran’s Drive to Encircle Israel
Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, the Iranian regime—through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its regional proxy Hezbollah—has entrenched itself within Syria’s military, economic, and social infrastructure. Tehran’s strategy is clear: establish forward-operating bases, smuggling networks, and missile infrastructure capable of threatening Israel’s heartland from next door. Israeli security sources contend that Syria has become the logistical and command bridge between Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, and beyond.
The transformation is visible along the Syria-Lebanon border, where Hezbollah operates with near-impunity, and in areas stretching down to the Israeli Golan, now peppered with IRGC outposts, local militias, and military-grade depots. The Israeli government and the IDF consistently assert that this Iranian-led entrenchment cannot be tolerated. For Jerusalem, the cost of inaction is stark: the growth of a multi-front threat capable of launching devastating rocket barrages and coordinated terror attacks reminiscent of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre—already the deadliest antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust.
Israel’s Modus Operandi: Striking from the Shadows
In response, Israel has conducted a concerted, years-long campaign of precision airstrikes and clandestine operations commonly referred to as the “war between the wars” (Mabam). These strikes, carried out by Israeli fighter jets, drones, and special operations teams, target warehouses, weapons convoys, IRGC officers, and command infrastructure. While Israel rarely claims direct responsibility for individual strikes, regional and international observers widely attribute hundreds of these attacks to Israeli forces.
Senior Israeli defense officials maintain that the aim is not only to degrade Iran’s military footprint but also to send a deterrent message: any attempt to deploy advanced weaponry—especially guided missiles—into the hands of Hezbollah or other Iranian proxies is a red line.
Recent Developments: Intensifying Confrontation
Since October 7, 2023, the tempo and intensity of Israeli strikes in Syria have increased. Military sources attribute this escalation to an uptick in Iranian proliferation of advanced weapons, including precision-guided missiles and drones, and to explicit attacks on Israeli territory launched from Syrian soil—sometimes by Palestinian terror operatives facilitated by the IRGC. In several high-profile operations, Israeli strikes have neutralized senior IRGC officials, disrupted weapons convoys, and hit Iranian-run drone factories near Damascus and Homs.
These strikes are not isolated military actions but part of a broad strategic doctrine: prevent the formation of a continuous Iranian-controlled front from Tehran through Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut—what Israeli strategists term the “land corridor.” Without persistent disruption, military officials warn that the next war could open with coordinated rocket fire and ground incursions from multiple northern sectors, with Hezbollah’s arsenal alone already estimated at more than 150,000 rockets and missiles.
The Syrian Regime’s Calculus: Between Survival and Subservience
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, once Israel’s bitter enemy and now largely a client of Iran and Russia, finds itself in a paradoxical position. Assad has relied on Iranian and Hezbollah manpower and funds to suppress the Syrian opposition and maintain power over a devastated country. In exchange, he has ceded significant operational autonomy to Iranian commanders and terror groups, enabling them to build infrastructure directed solely at Israel.
The Israeli military, while careful to avoid direct confrontation with the Russian military contingent in Syria, has repeatedly signaled to Damascus that continued support for Iranian activity will come at a price. Locally, these strikes have complicated Assad’s reconstruction efforts and have underscored the regime’s loss of sovereignty over large tracts of the border area.
Civilian Impact and the Dilemma of Escalation
While Israeli operations are meticulously planned to target terror infrastructure and limit civilian harm, the reality of war in Syria—a nation already shattered by a decade-long civil conflict—means that airstrikes risk collateral damage. Israeli officials emphasize the difference between deliberate terror attacks, such as those carried out by Hamas and its collaborators against Israeli civilians, and the measured use of force in self-defense aimed at removing existential threats.
Israeli intelligence further points to the humanitarian toll inflicted by Iran’s proxies upon Syrian and Lebanese civilians, whether through forced recruitment, use of human shields, or the enforcement of repressive militias in population centers. Regional analysts note that Iranian-backed forces undermine any prospect of Syrian stability or rehabilitation, keeping communities trapped in cycles of violence and economic stagnation to serve Tehran’s strategic aims.
International Dimensions and Russia’s Role
The complex dance between Israeli and Russian forces in Syria—often overlooked by international media—remains a crucial factor in Israel’s strategic calculus. Russia, deployed in Syria since 2015, has provided air cover for Assad’s regime while occasionally deconflicting with Israel to avoid escalation. Recent US intelligence reports suggest Moscow has grown wary of unchecked Iranian influence but remains committed to preserving Assad, leaving Israel to act largely on its own initiative.
US and European officials have repeatedly voiced support for Israel’s right to self-defense, while raising concerns about the broader regional implications of growing Iranian proliferation. These Western powers recognize that a stable, secure northern border for Israel—free from Iranian weapon smuggling—serves both Israeli and international security goals.
Iran’s Regional Ambitions: The Bigger Picture
Israel’s operations in Syria are inseparable from Iran’s efforts to expand its so-called “Axis of Resistance”—a web of militant groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq, all united by an explicit mandate to threaten and ultimately destroy Israel. The IRGC’s Quds Force orchestrates logistics, funding, training, and deployment for these groups, leveraging weak and fractured states to install forward bases for future conflict.
For Israeli leaders, the war in Syria is a matter of existential urgency. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, and Minister of Defense Israel Katz have all articulated the ironclad policy: Israel will not allow Iran to establish a second front in Syria or to build up local terror networks capable of launching anti-Israel campaigns. The October 7 Hamas massacre proved the catastrophic price of underestimating adversaries motivated by genocidal antisemitism and emboldened by Iranian support.
The Road Ahead: Vigilance and Clarity
As events continue to unfold on Israel’s northeastern border, the IDF remains on high alert, constantly monitoring Iranian activity and preparing for the contingency of direct confrontation with combined Iranian- and Hezbollah-led forces. Israeli intelligence, bolstered by close cooperation with the United States and selective partners in the region, is committed to exposing and disrupting terror plots before they can endanger Israeli lives.
In parallel, Israel conducts diplomatic outreach to convey the dangers of appeasing the Iranian regime and the necessity of defending international norms against the spread of state-sponsored terror. The lessons of Syria—and of October 7—resonate: deterrence erodes in the absence of action, and the consequences of strategic neglect are measured in innocent lives.
Conclusion: In Defense of Sovereignty and Security
The struggle within Syria is often unseen, obscured by the fog of regional geopolitics and the veneer of plausible deniability. Yet it is here that Israel’s security doctrine is most sharply tested. Faced with an adversary for whom Israel’s destruction is state policy, Israel has chosen to act—deliberately, methodically, and with full awareness of both the risks and the imperatives of self-defense. In doing so, Israel seeks not only to prevent the horrors of another October 7 but to uphold a fundamental tenet of sovereign self-preservation in an era marked by terror and uncertainty.
As Israel’s security apparatus, journalists, and leaders maintain relentless focus on developments in Syria, the message is clear: every front lines the war for Israel’s future and for the security of the broader Middle East. Those who threaten vital interests—be they IRGC officers in Damascus, Hezbollah units in the Bekaa, or Hamas cells near the border—do so at their own peril. Israel will continue to defend its people, its borders, and its right to exist—undaunted and undeterred.
