Three wounded in Israeli air attacks on central, west Syria
Al JazeeraNov 25, 2022
The Facts
According to Syrian state media, Israeli air strikes hit Syria's capital Damascus on Wednesday, injuring two Syrian soldiers, before Syria's air defenses shot down most missiles.
The air strikes reportedly targeted military positions near the airport in Dima, the Beirut-Damascus highway where elite Syrian army personnel are stationed, and warehouses of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Israel has been conducting airstrikes against suspected Iranian weapons transfers and personnel and its proxies in Syria for almost a decade. Though the strikes are part of a low-intensity conflict to slow Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, the West has seemingly dropped its previous plan of diplomacy to allow Israel and other allies to use military force instead to settle its grievances with Tehran. This risky strategy underestimates the magnitude and repercussions of a military escalation.
Pro-establishment narrative
Syria is a conflict zone with many actors, all of which can cause this "shadow war" to go hot. Meanwhile, Iran — with its coordinated effort with Russia, which controls much of the Syrian airspace — risks pushing it over the edge. Israel has been clear that it will not permit Iran to freely move weapons and fighters through Syria if such activities threaten Israeli security, and it's justified to target Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Tehran has dug its tentacles.
