Three wounded in Israeli air attacks on central, west Syria
Al JazeeraJUL 2023
Israel has been carrying out air strikes against suspected Iranian weapons transfers and personnel, as well as Tehran's proxies in Syria, for almost a decade and these tit-for-tat strikes are part of a low-intensity conflict intended, on the Israeli side, to slow Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria. The continuing pressure to escalate conflict created by the constancy of this shadow war has only been mitigated by Western attempts to foster diplomatic resolutions between the nations, but with the Biden administration's commitment to this strategy under question, a lethal escalation of force between Israel and Iran could be coming into focus .
Syria is a conflict zone with many actors, any of which could cause this "shadow war" to go hot. Currently, Iran — with its coordinated efforts alongside Russia, which controls much of the Syrian airspace — risks pushing this conflict 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 that it is justified in targeting Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Tehran has dug its tentacles.