Israel Claims Iran Withdrawing Militarily From Syria Due to Ongoing Strikes

Iran has reportedly started the process of removing military assets from Syria due to the damage and setbacks caused by alleged Israeli strikes. According to media, Tehran has already shuttered some of its bases amid a significant uptick in the frequency of Israeli-attributed cross-border attacks. On Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed airstrikes in northern Aleppo and in the eastern Deir ez-Zor region targeting Iranian-linked weapons depots and other installations. More than a dozen fighters, among them Iranians, were reported killed in the assaults. Israel has admitted to conducting thousands of strikes in Syria with a view to preventing the Islamic Republic from permanently setting up shop there. Iran intervened on behalf of the Assad regime at the onset of the civil war in 2011 and has on numerous occasions attempted, unsuccessfully, to retaliate against Israel through its elite Quds Force and Shiite allies stationed in or around the Syrian Golan Heights. On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett insisted that dislodging Iran from Syria was a matter of life and death, and warned that “Iranian soldiers who come to Syria and operate … are paying [the ultimate] price and will continue to do so. We will not give up and we will not allow the establishment of an Iranian forward operating base in Syria.”