Publications

Effects of the Israel-Gaza War on Syria: Multiple New Fronts

Release Date

2024-09

Language

  • English

Topics

  • Agents and Patterns of Security and War

The ongoing Israel-Gaza war bears great risks of drawing in neighbouring states. In Syria, this war has had an immediate impact on two separate fronts: In southern Syria/Damascus – through Israeli attacks – and in eastern Syria – through non-state armed group attacks against US troops. Both have increased steeply.

Adding to the immense suffering of the Syrian population from the ongoing Syrian war, these escalations display three major trends: First, while international attention has been focused on Gaza since October 2023, the Syrian regime and Russia have significantly escalated airstrikes on the last remaining so-called de-escalation zone in Idlib and Aleppo. These attacks  displaced 120,000 Syrians between October and November 2023. Second, Israel has escalated airstrikes and rocket attacks e.g. on Hizballah positions, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Syrian state military in southern Syria and Damascus. These actors are hostile to the state of Israel but notably, since October 2023 and before, hardly attacked Israel from Syrian soil. Third, Hizballah, present throughout Syria as an ally of the Bashar al-Asad dictatorship since the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011, together with affiliated groups pursues attacks on US targets in the east of the country.
You can download the blog post here.

Cite as

@misc{MeininghausYildirim-Schlusing2024, author = "Esther Meininghaus and Carina Yıldırım-Schlüsing", title = "Effects of the Israel-Gaza War on Syria: Multiple New Fronts", latexTitle = "Effects of the Israel-Gaza War on Syria: Multiple New Fronts", publisher = "London School of Economics Middle East Blog", institution = "London School of Economics Middle East Blog", type = "Other", year = "2024", address = "London", }

Document-Type

Other

Publisher

London School of Economics Middle East Blog

Place

London

Countries/Region

Syria