Syria: Electoral Campaigns Reflect Russian Absence, Iranian Influence

 A health worker tests a man as part of security measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus, at the Bab el-Salam border crossing between the Syrian town of Azaz and the Turkish town of Kilis, seen from Syria, March 14, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A health worker tests a man as part of security measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus, at the Bab el-Salam border crossing between the Syrian town of Azaz and the Turkish town of Kilis, seen from Syria, March 14, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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Syria: Electoral Campaigns Reflect Russian Absence, Iranian Influence

 A health worker tests a man as part of security measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus, at the Bab el-Salam border crossing between the Syrian town of Azaz and the Turkish town of Kilis, seen from Syria, March 14, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A health worker tests a man as part of security measures to avoid the spread of coronavirus, at the Bab el-Salam border crossing between the Syrian town of Azaz and the Turkish town of Kilis, seen from Syria, March 14, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Electoral campaigns in Syrian government-controlled areas show that a large number of candidates for the People’s Council (Parliament) are closely linked to Iran, while a few others have ties to Russia, after Damascus rejected Moscow’s demands on the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Up to 8,735 candidates will compete for 250 seats in the elections that will be held on July 19.

The Baath Party announced the National Unity List, which comprises 166 Baathist candidates and 17 others from the National Progressive Front parties.

The elections will also see a wide participation by businessmen and prominent merchants, many of whom are running as independent candidates, especially in Damascus and Aleppo.

In Damascus, three lists formed of merchants and businessmen are competing in the electoral race. Those are “Jasmine”, “Damascus” and “Sham”.

A major investment of political money was seen in the advertisements for the lists of businessmen and big merchants, who have the largest share of billboards and banners, in comparison to shy campaigns for the rest of independent candidates.

In light of the suffocating living crisis in government-controlled areas, where 90 percent of citizens live below the poverty line, talks are circulating within media and advertising circles about businessmen and traders who are preparing to buy votes.

The majority of those candidates have strong ties with Iran, which supported the regime during the ongoing war.

Mohammed Hamsho is one of the leading candidates who has solid ties and extensive commercial links with Tehran. Also, militants affiliated with him have fought with the Iranian militias.

Hamsho is known to offer widespread financial support for residents of Damascus neighborhoods and suburbs.

Likewise, Fahd Mahmoud Darwish and Musan Nahhas both have extensive commercial links with Iran.

Darwish, who participated in the Iranian militias’ engagement in Damascus, is the vice-president of the Syrian-Iranian Joint Chamber of Commerce, and heads the Armada Company - the agent of Syrian-Iranian Auto Manufacturing Company.

He also chairs the Supreme Committee for Investors in the Free Zones and the General Manager of Al-Baraka pharmaceutical company, with its mother-company based in Iran. He is also one of the supervisors of the Iranian Center in the Damascus Free Zone, which encompasses 22 Iranian companies.

Nahas, for his part, is the secretary of the Syrian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce in Damascus, the director of the International Investment Company, the Caesar Investment Company, and Michelangelo Advertising. He is also the agent of the Iranol oil company and a member of the Board of Directors of Madarat for electronic payment services. He chairs the Development Association Charity, which provides support to thousands of Shiite families.

On the other hand, Russia’s role in these elections is almost unnoticeable. Candidates close to Moscow only include Businessman Hussam Qatirji and Burwin Ibrahim, a Kurd candidate for the city of Hasaka.

According to Law 5 of 2014 and its amendments, Syrians, who have left the country illegally are prevented from voting. The law stipulates that non-resident Syrians are only entitled to exercise their right to elect the President of the Republic. It does not refer, however, to the People’s Assembly elections.

State employees represent the largest number of voters. There are around 1.6 million public servants, in addition to the military in the army, who are now entitled to vote after the amendment of the electoral law in 2016.



Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Iran-Israel War: A Lifeline for Netanyahu?

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

On the eve of launching strikes on Iran, his government looked to be on the verge of collapse, with a drive to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews threatening to scupper his fragile coalition.

Nearly two years on from Hamas's unprecedented attack in 2023, Netanyahu was under growing domestic criticism for his handling of the war in Gaza, where dozens of hostages remain unaccounted for, said AFP.

Internationally too, he was coming under pressure including from longstanding allies, who since the war with Iran began have gone back to expressing support.

Just days ago, polls were predicting Netanyahu would lose his majority if new elections were held, but now, his fortunes appear to have reversed, and Israelis are seeing in "Bibi" the man of the moment.

– 'Reshape the Middle East' –

For decades, Netanyahu has warned of the risk of a nuclear attack on Israel by Iran -- a fear shared by most Israelis.

Yonatan Freeman, a geopolitics expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Netanyahu's argument that the pre-emptive strike on Iran was necessary draws "a lot of public support" and that the prime minister has been "greatly strengthened".

Even the opposition has rallied behind him.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is my political rival, but his decision to strike Iran at this moment in time is the right one," opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed.

A poll published Saturday by a conservative Israeli channel showed that 54 percent of respondents expressed confidence in the prime minister.

The public had had time to prepare for the possibility of an offensive against Iran, with Netanyahu repeatedly warning that Israel was fighting for its survival and had an opportunity to "reshape the Middle East."

During tit-for-tat military exchanges last year, Israel launched air raids on targets in Iran in October that are thought to have severely damaged Iranian air defenses.

Israel's then-defense minister Yoav Gallant said the strikes had shifted "the balance of power" and had "weakened" Iran.

"In fact, for the past 20 months, Israelis have been thinking about this (a war with Iran)," said Denis Charbit, a political scientist at Israel's Open University.

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Netanyahu has ordered military action in Gaza, against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as targets in Syria where long-time leader Bashar al-Assad fell in December last year.

"Netanyahu always wants to dominate the agenda, to be the one who reshuffles the deck himself -- not the one who reacts -- and here he is clearly asserting his Churchillian side, which is, incidentally, his model," Charbit said.

"But depending on the outcome and the duration (of the war), everything could change, and Israelis might turn against Bibi and demand answers."

– Silencing critics –

For now, however, people in Israel see the conflict with Iran as a "necessary war," according to Nitzan Perelman, a researcher specialized in Israel at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.

"Public opinion supports this war, just as it has supported previous ones," she added.

"It's very useful for Netanyahu because it silences criticism, both inside the country and abroad."

In the weeks ahead of the Iran strikes, international criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's military had reached unprecedented levels.

After more than 55,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, and a blockade that has produced famine-like conditions there, Israel has faced growing isolation and the risk of sanctions, while Netanyahu himself is the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

But on Sunday, two days into the war with Iran, the Israeli leader received a phone call from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has held talks with numerous counterparts.

"There's more consensus in Europe in how they see Iran, which is more equal to how Israel sees Iran," explained Freeman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Israel was doing "the dirty work... for all of us."

The idea that a weakened Iran could lead to regional peace and the emergence of a new Middle East is appealing to the United States and some European countries, according to Freeman.

But for Perelman, "Netanyahu is exploiting the Iranian threat, as he always has."