The interests of both Turkey and Israel coincide and converge in weakening Syria, whether in changing the current regime loyal to Russia and the axis of resistance consisting of Iran, Hezbollah and Iraq — which they have succeeded in — or in dividing Syria into states and regions controlled by opposition factions, Kurds and Druze.
Israel and Turkey chose the right time to reinvigorate the civil war that erupted in 2011 (in what was known at the time as the “Arab Spring” that swept through several Arab countries) and weakened in 2018. Russia is currently preoccupied with its war against Ukraine and Iran, and its allies are exhausted from the war with Israel. Fearing that the Muslim jihadists will seize the Syrian army’s heavy and toxic weapons and use them against it, Israel may intervene militarily directly in the Syrian crisis under the pretext of defending the Kurds, Druze and other minorities, to the extent of seizing certain areas inside Syria. Israel already occupied the buffer zone on its border with Syria in the Golan Heights a few days ago.
It is worth noting that Israel already intervened indirectly when it received the White Helmets team, who cooperated with the forces and factions opposing the Syrian regime. Its members sought refuge in Israeli territory when they were besieged by the Syrian army. Israel ensured their safety by transferring them to Jordanian territory! As for Turkey, it has already intervened directly, militarily and politically, since the beginning of the civil war, providing the opponents of the Syrian regime with weapons and military experts. Turkish artillery shelled the Syrian town of “Kessab” with an Armenian majority before a ground attack carried out by the opposition. Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated openly that the current regime in Syria must be dissolved.
This is not the first time that the destructive interests and goals of Turkey and Israel have coincided. They previously worked together, hand in hand, to commit genocide against the Armenian people, when Azerbaijan launched a military attack on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on September 19, 2023.
Dr. Gaby Kevorkian
Armenian Quarter, Jerusalem
Guest Contributor
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Armenians who are left in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, are not living in the normal sense, they are simply surving from one day to the next. And every day is a struggle for survival and literally a life and death situation for them.
They have been truly abandoned and forgotten in all this carnage and chaos.
I wish under normal ideal circumstances, Armenia could have taken all the Armenians of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. But at least I hope that all Armenians in these war-torn countries, are able to flee to the West and rebuild their lives there in safety and to be able to prosper, because there is no future for them (and for all the other persecuted minorities) in these three perennial conflict countries.
Please do not label Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham as “rebels”. They are terrorists and are affiliated with Al Qaeda and ISIS!
The following is from BBC.
“HTS was set up under a different name, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011 as a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda.
The leader of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was also involved in its formation.
It was regarded as one of the most effective and deadly of the groups ranged against President Assad.
But its jihadist ideology appeared to be its driving force rather than revolutionary zeal – and it was seen at the time as at odds with the main rebel coalition under the banner of Free Syria.
And in 2016, the group’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, publicly broke ranks with Al Qaeda, dissolved Jabhat al-Nusra and set up a new organisation, which took the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with several other similar groups a year later”.
It’s obvious as both nations adjoin Syria that they will have an interest. Whether like Germany (as Prussia) and Russia who dived up Poland in collusion with eachother along with Austria would end up fighting eachother later on as a result of no longer having another nation inbetween over their common boundary remains to be seen given the decline in the rosey relationship between Turkey and Israel it’s possible although it would be an interesting one as to whom Armenia should favour if they were to actually clash. Assad was one of the only Russia aligned leaders who spoke in sympathy of Arktash in 2020 although few leaders spoke up for Arktash given the lack international support Armenia had over the issue, but clearly there wasn’t much beyond platitudes he could do for Armenia and Arktash.