The renewed fighting in Suwayda has strengthened Israel’s efforts to demilitarise southern Syria by force. Israel is extending its occupation, seizing territory and taking fights beyond its borders.

As Suwayda

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

Middle East Conflict

Israel has launched airstrikes targeting the Syrian defense ministry, areas near the presidential palace in Damascus, and government troops entering Suwayda. The Israeli government claims these strikes are intended to protect the Syrian Druze community at the request of Israeli Druze, who have ties to the Israeli state. However, analysts argue that Israel's actions are part of a broader strategy to assert dominance in the Middle East, involving territorial expansion and ongoing military interventions across the region.

These developments occur against a backdrop of continued conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen, as well as tensions with Iran. Despite the Trump administration's stated policy of promoting normalization deals with Israel, U.S. officials have offered little pushback, with the Secretary of State describing the strikes as a misunderstanding. Observers warn that this approach may further destabilize the region.

Syria is the latest front in Israeli war for dominance

The armistice line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria that demarcates the 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria is not the only line Israel is crossing. On Wednesday, Israel carried out airstrikes on the Syrian defense ministry and near the presidential palace in the heart of Damascus, as well as on government troops entering Suedda. Israel is now a main actor in the crisis that is threatening to unravel Syria's fragile new reality. The defense minister says Israel will demilitarize a large part of Syrian territory bordering Damascus with force. The strikes are to protect the Syrian Druze community, it claims, and that this military intervention is at the request of Israeli Druze, who serve in the army and have pledged allegiance to the Israeli state. But analysts say the move has less to do with the minority Druze community and more with a strategic Israeli objective to create a new reality. It's part of Israel trying to show that it is the hegemonic power in the Middle East that everything in the Middle East should be played according to its will. It's a zero-sum formula of territorial expansion and concurrent wars. Endless war on Gaza, relentless attacks on Lebanon, strikes on Yemen, threats of resumed hostilities with Iran, and in Syria, territorial expansion and direct military intervention. At the face of it, this contradicts the Trump administration's declared policy of seeking to expand normalization deals with Israel in the region, which the new government in Syria had welcomed and entertained before this crisis. But pushback from Washington has been minimal. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the airstrikes on Damascus as a misunderstanding. With such uncontrolled power and aggressive posture, it seems Israel is seeking submission. The Trump administration's approach of solving crises by appeasing Israel will entrench this doctrine and push the region into further instability.

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Syria is the latest front in Israeli war for dominance

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