National Security is Everyone's Business

April 16th, 2024 | 11:44 AM ET

In Syria, A Growing Strategic Threat to Israel — And Risk of Escalation

Posted: February 26th, 2018

Bottom Line: As the Syrian regime consolidates power, with the help of Russia, Iran, and Iranian proxy Hezbollah, its combined forces are growing bolder, presenting an increasing strategic threat to Israel. In response, Israel has begun adjusting its policy of selective intervention, recently targeting Assad air defense systems in response to Iranian incursions. Israel’s increased military involvement in Syria, however, risks unintentional escalation with Tehran.

Background: Since 1974, Syria has remained an active enemy of the state of Israel, but one that can be predictably deterred from taking broad conventional action. This realization allowed Israel to maintain a semblance of stability along the countries’ shared border, but with the advent of the Syrian civil war, this began to change.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+

Categorized as:InternationalTagged with:

Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

June 1st, 2023

Search

Close