Reports: Israel Preparing Major Campaign against Iranian Forces in Syria

Israel is reportedly ready to significantly escalate its bombing campaign against Iranian forces and their Shi’ite allies in Syria. According to media outlets, newly minted Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has been working with Israel Defense Forces leaders to draw up plans to harm Tehran’s interests in Syria to a degree that would induce the Islamic Republic to withdraw from the country. Bennett previously suggested that the timing was ripe for such an operation, given the civil unrest in Iran in addition to ongoing demonstrations in Iraq and Lebanon that are partially fueled by anger over Iranian political and military interventionism in those countries. The mullahs are simultaneously struggling to cope with the effects of biting US economic sanctions, foremost those preventing oil exports, reimposed by President Donald Trump following his decision to withdraw in May of last year from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal. The reports on Israel’s preparations come after the IDF on Tuesday completed a large-scale drill in the North close to the borders with Syria and Lebanon, where Iranian proxy Hizbullah has amassed an estimated 130,000 rockets and missiles. The IDF has over the past two-plus years conducted hundreds of air strikes in Syria – and, more recently, several in Iraq as well – in order to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military infrastructure therein. Jerusalem has been on high alert in anticipation of potential Iranian retaliation, especially since September’s coordinated drone and cruise missile attack on critical Saudi oil infrastructure that was attributed to the Islamic Republic.