Israel Must Not Meddle in Syria

By Ali Nasser Mohammed

Arab history witnessed the rise and fall of states. This was most notably the Umayyad state, taking Damascus as its capital and from there on reaching Andalusia. It finally collapsed at the hands of its Abbasid oppressors, who moved the seat of the Umayyad caliphate to Baghdad as lead by Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah.

The Abbasids inturn did not learn from the lessons of the Umayyads and do away with the struggles between themselves until their Arab feature faded and dominated by the Seljuks until the arrival of Saladin, who led the Battle of Hattin in 1187 and broke the power of the Crusaders. After this victory, Saladin regained Jerusalem.

What is happening in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria is not the last. Today, and now, Israel occupying Mount Hermon and the buffer zone despite an international decision and a 1974 agreement, proving the chain of Zionist expansion and foreign interference in Arab affairs to weaken and subjugate them one after the other.

As for the extended past, Syria rejected normalization according to Israeli whims and strategic interests that may be achieved after the earthquake of 8 December, 2024.

During my meeting with the late President Hafez al-Assad, his attention was drawn to a large copper plaque hanging on the wall of his office depicting the Battle of Hattin. He said: “The Arabs fought the Crusaders for more than 100 years until they expelled them from Jerusalem and other Arab countries, and that the fate of Israel will be like the fate of the Crusades.”

He then spoke about an offer made to him by the also late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, which included withdrawing from the Golan while keeping Lake Tiberias, which he said the Israelis “like to wet their feet in its waters,” in exchange for recognizing the Zionist entity. Al Assad rejected this offer and stressed that the Israeli flag would not be raised in the skies of Damascus except by establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel incursions

The Golan, which Hafez al-Assad refused to be a deal at the expense of the Palestinian cause, today witnesses an incursion by the Zionist enemy into its buffer zone at the ceasefire line and the enemy’s prime minister’s renewed declaration that the Golan Heights will remain Israeli forever.

Not content with that, Israel launched more than 480 raids that destroyed military sites, strategic weapons depots, surface-to-air missiles, fighter jet squadrons, dozens of helicopters, airports, air defense batteries, and the military infrastructure of the Syrian army, which was founded on 1 August, 1946. At the same time, the Israeli navy carried out large-scale strikes to destroy the Syrian naval fleet, including coastal defense systems and ships containing sea-to-sea missiles.

What is shameful for both the Syrian and Arab sides is that paralyzing the role of the Syrian army does not serve the interests of Syria and the Arab nation, its security, dignity, and national role. The army was actually dissolved without a declared decision, as happened in occupied Iraq in 2003 by America, which made it easy for Israel to achieve a golden goal that it had never dreamed of.

These strategic national gains belong to the Syrian people, not to any regime, regardless of its identity, and they are irreplaceable, which requires the Syrian people and their new government to be deeply aware of the ambitions of the Zionist entity and its allies in the region, which have no end unless Syria’s security and sovereignty are not a priority. Therefore, it has become necessary to work quickly and seriously to preserve what remains of the military establishment, which was and still is the pillar of Syrian power and which has no alternative unless foreign agendas hide something else.

Syria’s recovery from its deep wounds and its strong and majestic return to the Arab arena, in a manner befitting its Arab role and national interests, requires distinguishing the enemy from the friend and clinging to the national interest in addition to unity of ranks, overcoming divisions and the short-sighted policy of revenge.

Our history teaches us that major challenges can only be faced by the will of a unified people and a conscious leadership that realizes that Syria’s strength is a guarantee for the stability of its people and the region and for repelling any aggressive projects that threaten its present and future and the future of the Arab nation.

Today, this nation is in dire need of an Arab project to get it out of the circle of conflicts, wars and sectarianism that undermines the rights of others to draw a better future for the present and the future.

However, this requires vision, will, and insightful and patriotic leadership. Otherwise, Syria and the Arabs will enter a phase of decline, fragmentation and civil wars, and no one will escape this fate from the ocean to the Gulf.

We hope that the Syrian people, who are looking forward to their freedom, independence and sovereignty, will overcome this difficult historical stage in the life of the Syrian state and will be able to achieve their aspirations at the hands of their sons and youth. This is what the Syrian people, with their history and civilization extending deep into history, have accustomed us to.

The writer is a former President of South Yemen before the country was united in 1990.  He wrote this article for the Arabic Al Rai Alyoum

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Trump, Iran And The ‘Nuclear Fight’

Experts say the Middle East region is poised on an impending war with the top protagonists being the USA, Israel and Iran.  They stand on a military pedestal of violent conflict where Armageddon has become the new catchphrase.

The man at the center of it all is US president Donald Trump who has been elected on a so-called global “peace” ticket but is fueling the worldwide escalation with his rhetoric.

He is telling Iran, nay warning it, to either hitch out and agree to a new accord on the country’s nuclear file or face the American wrath where its Persian cities and nuclear facilities would be wildly attacked in a first-time development that is turning international relations upside down.

And so a war of words began between Tehran and Washington since Trump sent a stern letter to Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, telling him to submit to a new nuclear agreement to stall his country’s nuclear facilities or face extensive US bombing. 

This was a callous, stark warning. The international system has never, till now, faced such discursive diplomatic parlance, even at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Iranian leadership saw Trump’s verbiage as an outright threat and refused to submit, even telling US president that Iran will not be bullied and he can to “go to hell”, a comment made by Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian. He was speaking for the Ayatollah and the top leadership in the country.

Since then however, and in spite of the occasional utterings, recently made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Iraghchi that Tehran would respond quickly and heavily to any outside attack, both sides have been involved in a “jostling affair” issuing different and irk statements short of the war-mongering tirade Trump started.

Military brink

Today, and on the face of it, both sides appear to want to pull back from the military brink. The Iranians are now saying they would be prepared to negotiate but only indirectly through Oman, the country that has traditionally served as a consummate link between Washington and Tehran.

Whilst the Trump administration may be contemplating such a fact, although it’s on record for stating it would prefer direct face-to-face negotiations involving fully-fledged American and Iranian expert teams in the field of nuclear weapons and proliferation, Washington has not closed the doors to such an offer from Tehran and it is still considering it which means it might be softening its position.

But there is another snag to this. Iranian officials have stated they want confidence-building measures from the Trump administration and don’t believe in negotiations under threat but this appears to be what is happening today.

As the diplomatic chit chat continues, Washington is sending military reinforcements with jet fighters, mass bombs and missiles to the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Red Sea as part of their stepped-up fight against the Houthis and potentially against Iran, both of whom are against the Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip which is being financed by the USA.

Thus, what is happening now is that both sides are involved in sending out mixed signals despite the military escalation and war of words with Trump in what is becoming his customary U-turns. He is now saying that he doesn’t want a fight with Iran and is prepared for negotiations. 

But the ball is turning so to speak. For one thing Israel has long sought deadly strikes on Iranian cities and nuclear facilities and for it, today this is a “golden opportunity” being flanked and supported by US warships in the area.

Israel sees such a series of strikes as more urgent than before because after 2018 when Trump got the USA out of the nuclear deal, Iran started once again to boost its uranium enrichment program and many argue it’s very near to achieving a nuclear bomb and capability.

But that may be over-stating the fact, because Iran has always stated its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and its officials have maintained an official dialogue with the countries it originally made a deal with in 2015 officially named as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

So the current escalation may be tinged with diplomatic talk for although Trump maybe rash in what he says, there is usually a back up plan up his sleeve of not reaching beyond the military brink with brinkmanship being played at the highest levels.

This comment is written by Dr Marwan Asmar, chief editor of the crossfirearabia.com website.

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Gaza Cracks Trump’s Image as ‘Peacemaker’

By Giorgio Cafiero

The Gaza ceasefire had been extremely fragile ever since its implementation on Jan. 19. Many analysts doubted that phase two would begin, and the main question was about when, not if, the ceasefire would fall apart. It came as no surprise when Israel completely ended the ceasefire on March 18 and resumed its genocidal war on Gaza, killing roughly 600 [1] Palestinians within the first four days after the truce collapsed.

It is beyond disturbing to think about what will come next for the 2.2 million people in Gaza, especially given that Israeli authorities imposed [2] a blockade on all humanitarian aid on March 2. While briefing the UN Security Council on the day Israel resumed its war, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said [3] “food is rotting and medicines are expiring.” The Israelis quickly undid all humanitarian progress achieved by international actors during the 42-day ceasefire. “Essential survival resources needed are now being rationed,” warned [4] Fletcher.

For all the misleading and outright inaccurate reporting in the Western media, it is clear that Hamas wanted phase two to begin, which was supposed to take place on March 1. However, Israel wanted phase one extended and was against moving into phase two. Had the second phase begun, Hamas would have handed over all the remaining Israeli captives. Now, amid this intense warfare, Hamas claims it is considering US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s “Bridge Proposal,” which aims to extend the collapsed ceasefire into next month, beyond Ramadan and Passover, to permit negotiations for a permanent ceasefire to end this war.

It is not difficult to understand why this genocide resumed on March 18. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies in the government were crystal clear that they did not support the ceasefire and wanted Israeli military operations against Gaza to resume. It was only pressure from the incoming Donald Trump administration during the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency that led Tel Aviv to agree to the tenuous ceasefire. Now that the Trump administration removed that pressure on Israel and the American president went all-out with his rhetoric about “hell” in Gaza, Netanyahu received the green light from the White House to continue the genocide.


Trump’s desires and reality

What US President Donald Trump realistically sought to achieve with his obscene rhetoric about a “clean out” [6] of Gaza and outlandish talk of transforming the war-ravaged enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East” [7] is a question for another article. Nonetheless, it is easy to conclude that such language emboldened the most right-wing and aggressive Israeli elements, including those in the government. These extremists have spent decades fantasizing about a second Nakba and establishing a Palestinian state outside Palestine.

Put simply, for Netanyahu and those around him to champion this plan of mass ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of millions of Palestinians into Egypt, Jordan, and perhaps also some Gulf Arab countries, continuing the war on Gaza is a necessary part of this process. After all, human history has shown that people don’t volunteer to leave their ancestral homeland but typically only do as a result of massive bloodshed.

The Israeli leadership understands this about the Palestinians and their quest to remain on their land. So much was on display with the leaflets [8] that Israel’s military recently dropped on Gaza, which threatened to make Trump’s plan for a “clean out” of Gaza the new reality.

To be sure, Israel’s domestic politics and Netanyahu’s own legal situation were relevant factors too. By restarting the war on Gaza, Netanyahu was able to secure stability within his own coalition. Now, not only is there no reason for him to fear more cabinet members quitting the coalition, but former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who left in January because of the ceasefire has returned [9] due to the genocide’s resumption.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial, set for the day that the war on Gaza recommenced, was postponed, [10] highlighting how “security developments” [11] shield him from legal consequences for his alleged [12] breach of trust, bribery, and fraud.

A key question is, where does this all leave Trump? After all, he campaigned on being a “peacemaker” president. While delivering his inaugural address just over two months ago, Trump declared, [13] “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

At this point, Trump might find himself trapped in Gaza, preventing him from reducing the US military footprint in the Middle East. Trump is escalating conflicts in the region—from Gaza to Yemen and possibly soon Iran—that could keep the US bogged down in this part of the world, which is the opposite of his promises regarding US foreign policy if elected to a second term. It remains to be seen how Trump’s support for Israel’s actions in Gaza and his escalation in Yemen—closely tied to Palestine—will impact his standing among his MAGA base.

The author is the CEO of Gulf States Analytics

[1] https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/22/israel-orders-idf-troops-to-advance-deeper-into-gaza-as-renewed-operation-expands

[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/02/middleeast/israel-halts-gaza-humanitarian-aid-intl-hnk/index.html

[3, 4] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1161246

[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-intensifying-gaza-strikes-press-hamas-into-freeing-hostages-defence-2025-03-21/

[6] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/middleeast/trump-clean-out-gaza-middle-east-intl/index.html

[7] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trumps-gaza-israel-plans-riviera-rcna190748

[8] https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-drops-leaflets-saying-no-one-will-care-if-gazans-vanish

[9] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/18/israels-ben-gvir-to-rejoin-netanyahus-government

[10,11,12] https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/report-netanyahus-testimony-corruption-trial-postponed-due-gaza-war

[13] https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address/

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