Published: - Mar 03, 2018

Once again, the Arab country becomes the place of confrontations between enemies, this time between an Islamic republic and a Jewish state

Since 1979, with the Islamic revolution that took place in Iran, at the head of the political-spiritual leader Ruhollah Khomeini, known abroad as the Ayatollah Khomeini, to this day, the diplomatic agenda between the governments of Tehran and Jerusalem is null. Despite having in the past some approach, more than anything in military matters, after the war between Iraq and Iran, the latter took the Palestinian resistance very seriously. For this reason, since the 1990s, the political situation between Israel and Iran is tense and subtle. The situation aggravates the social condition that the countries of the Middle East have suffered since 1918, with the end of the First World War.

A century later, in 2018, the hostile environment remains and becomes stronger with the passage of time. This is due to the events after the Arab Spring, the Civil War in Syria, and the occupation in the east by the Islamic State. Now, the region is facing a new diplomatic crisis that went from verbal provocations to real events.

On February 24, Israeli Armed Forces aircraft bombarded military targets of Iran and Syria, in response to a complaint by the Israeli government in which it was claimed that an Iranian drone was crossing the border between Israel and Syria. The accusations were rejected by the Tehran government. However, Iran and Syria shot down an Israeli Armed Forces plane, a situation that annoyed members of the Jerusalem government, as it was the first aircraft lost in combat in many years.

After Israel, at the hands of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledged that he bombarded the Iranian targets, he also said that Israel will defend its sovereignty at all costs. Additionally, Netanyahu assured that any attack will be responded to while the alert is maintained on the border with Syria.

Statements from Jerusalem have caused the Russian government to take a stand, calling on the parties to remain calm and restraint in Syrian territory. In addition, Russia denounced that it is "absolutely unacceptable" for Russian soldiers to be put at risk in the aftermath of Israel's attacks.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the State Department of the United States, Heather Nauert, expressed concern over the escalation of violence in recent days. However, she said that Israel is fully entitled to protect the sovereignty of its territory, emphasizing the drone intercepted in the Golan Heights, the Syrian-Israeli border, which was the origin of the crisis of violence, puts in suspense the Middle East region.

This is the first time that Israel has intruded in depth on the conflict in Syria, since, although the government of Jerusalem only watches the evolution of the crisis, it is very aware that the Iranian presence in Syrian territory does not threaten the sovereignty or security of the Jewish State.

Latin American Post | David García

Translated from “ Siria: El nuevo campo de batalla entre Irán e Israel"