The Syrian regime is working toward normalization in the region in recent months while it doesn’t rein in dangerous terrorist and militant groups, the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.
“The fact that rockets were fired from Syria, on the evening of April 8 and 9, as well as a drone launched from Syria on April 1 targeting Israel, illustrates that the regime is seeking normalization while it doesn’t rein in dangerous terrorist and militant groups,” the newspaper wrote.
The Jerusalem Post report said the importance of the rocket fire goes beyond just the rockets themselves or any response.
The Syrian regime appears to have allowed terrorist groups to continue to operate openly and threaten others and it has tolerated various Iranian-backed groups for years because those groups aided Syria in its civil war, it said.
What is new according to the paper is that the regime is now playing a dangerous game by not reining in the groups even as it poses as seeking normalization.
“Normalization would imply the regime controls its own territory. The regime cannot have it both ways, claiming to control its territory, but allowing attacks on other countries from its territory,” it said.
On the other hand, Iranian-backed groups in Syria carried out several attacks on US forces in eastern Syria in mid-March, and the US responded with airstrikes on March 23.
The Jerusalem Post said the rocket fire targeting US troops in eastern Syria now looks similar to how Syria has enabled groups that targeted Israel on April 8-9.
“These incidents show how the regime continues to tolerate a plethora of armed groups, from Hezbollah to various militias backed by Iran, that undermine the regime’s own narrative of stability,” it added.
The newspaper said it is important to recall that the regime is actually reducing its own attempts at stability through these moves.
“Back in 2018, the Syrian regime was able to retake a swath of the country and return its forces to the Golan. As the regime prepared to return to the Golan, and push aside the Syrian rebels who had operated on the Syrian side since 2012, it put out messages about how it would restore order in the area,” the Post stated.
This was important because there were concerns that Syria would bring Hezbollah to the border with Israel and this would create an intolerable threat, it said.
In September 2017 reports said that a kind of “buffer zone” on the border could be created, with Russia involved, which would keep threats far from Israel’s border, the newspaper wrote, adding that Russian military police were initially deployed when the regime returned and that in August 2018, the Russians were supposed to end up at several points near the border.
“However, things have changed over the last several years in southern Syria. There have been increased tensions between former Syrian rebels who reconciled with the regime, and the regime,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Also, there has been an increase in the smuggling of drugs by militias near the Jordanian border.
“Syria continues to also threaten US forces at Tanf garrison in Syria near the Jordanian and Iraqi border. In addition groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad operate in Damascus. Hezbollah also continues to operate in southern Syria,” the Post wrote.
The newspaper concluded that the rocket fire overnight on April 8 and 9 is a major escalation in terms of the Syrian front and also the ability of groups to operate from near the Golan and threaten Israel.
“This brings back memories of some of the chaos during the Syrian Civil War, when there were often threats and concerns about security along the Golan border,” it said.
However, today the Syrian regime is not in the same spot that it was back in 2015 or 2016, the Post explained, adding that the regime is now seeking to retake more parts of the country. Syria is working with Russia and in talks with Iran and Türkiye.
Those talks continue to falter regarding Türkiye’s withdrawal from northern Syria.
However, the overall trend is clear, the Jerusalem Post wrote, adding that the regime wants to portray itself as in charge of the country.
“At the same time, the regime enables instability through the kinds of incidents like the rocket fire on Saturday night and Sunday morning,” it stated.
