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Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-859056
Why Syria Let Israel Use Its Airspace to Strike Iran: "Every Blow to Iran Is a Benefit"
(Jerusalem Post) Maya Cohen - Israeli planes crossed Syria to reach Iran, University of Haifa Professor Amatzia Baram said in an interview with Maariv on Thursday. He explained that the new Syrian government had "an interest in the Israelis attacking Iran as much as possible. Every blow to Iran is pure benefit to al-Sharaa's regime." Any blow to Iran weakens the largest strategic rival of the new regime in Damascus. This is why the Syrians would not interfere with the Israeli operation, even if they had the capability to do so. Baram emphasizes that al-Sharaa has no real interest in confronting us. "We took the Golan Heights from Assad, but the Golan is not a sufficient reason for a bloody conflict. Even the Assad family, Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar, essentially recognized de facto that the Golan belongs to us, since they didn't try to take it back after 1973, and every Syrian knows this. In other words, there is already a precedent of half a century where the Syrian regime has accepted Israeli control over the Golan. Therefore, Syrian nationalists and jihadists who try to incite the public against al-Sharaa for not going to war to liberate the Golan will face discomfort." In fact, al-Sharaa is "quietly grateful to us for what we've done. The Iranians are looking for a way to get rid of him and return Syria to their sphere of influence. He knows this." Moreover, Israel effectively deters both the Shiite militias in Iraq and Hizbullah, two of al-Sharaa's natural enemies. "Al-Sharaa sees that the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Hizbullah did nothing during the 12 days of the war, despite the fact that Iran built Hizbullah specifically for this moment."