First earthquake, now Israeli missile strike claims life in Syria

On Sunday, Israeli missile strikes targeted the densely populated neighborhood of Kafar Sousa in Damascus, the capital of Syria.

At 00:22 AM, the capital of Syria Damascus jolted again, and the cause this time was not a natural disaster but an anthropogenic one. Missile strikes from Israel hit a target in kafar Sousa, a densely populated region and home to the top-ranking government & security officials.

The Strike

The capital city of Damascus was targeted by an Israeli missile strike at midnight on Sunday from the direction of Golam Heights, hitting several areas in Damascus, including residential areas, according to a Syrian Defence ministry statement.

The strike hit an area in Damascus called Kafar Saura which is a high-security area in Damascus, home to top government and security officials.

The deadly missile strike killed at least 15 people, including a security official, and injured at least 15 according to the Syrian Defence Ministry.

A 10-story building was badly damaged in the strike, causing its lower structure to collapse, according to the video released by state media.

The Sunday strike was the second such strike in Syria by Israel in 2024. On January 2, Israel targeted the Damascus airport, killing 2 soldiers. Also, in June of 2022, Damascus airport was targeted by Israel.

Context & Pre-Text  

The geopolitics of the region, dictated by Syria, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, and others, is complex, volatile, and violent. The powder keg situation of the regions is exacerbated by the state-sponsored proxy actors. 

The security dilemma that exists in the region is utilized by all the stakeholders in the region to justify attacks on each other. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the presence of a pro-Iranian group and leader of Hezbollah in Syria, as alleged by the Israel Defence forces ( IDF) becomes the pretext for striking Syria. 

For instance, the January missile strike that targeted Damascus airport was conducted by IDF to eliminate the leaders & members associated with Hezbollah. 

The Sunday strike, targeted Iranian militia officials at an Iranian school in Kafar Sosua, according to a news outlet Orient News.

Gloves are off, offence is on

For several decades, especially during the post-1979 Iranian revolution, the relationship between Israel and Iran has been deteriorating at a rapid pace and now they have become sworn enemies of each other, so to speak. Iran doesn’t endorse the right to the existence of Israel and Israel believes that a nuclear Iran will be an existential threat to the existence of Israel. This view of Israel is shared mostly by the USA. The infighting in the Mediterranean regions is a mixture of both covert & overt conflict and also through proxies. For instance, Hezbollah has unequivocal Iranian backing and is thus considered by Israel a threat to its security and national interest.

According to one official of the Israel Defence Force, Iran might try to ship weapons to its regional proxies like Hezbollah & Iran-backed groups in Syria, under the guise of earthquake humanitarian aid to Syria. In this scenario, the IDF will not look the other way and will take proportionate security measures. 

Israel-Iran-Syria: War of Proxies 

The Arab Spring of 2011 didn’t yield any stable democratic government, as was anticipated from the fervor of the movement. The Syrian civil war which started in 2011, became an unfortunate legacy of the Arab Spring, killing hundreds since then, displacing millions and pre-text for hostilities. Since the 2011 civil war in Syria, Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria to target Iranian-backed proxy groups operating from Syrian soil.

Though Israel, as a rule, never comments on the strike, as stated by its various functionaries, Israel wouldn’t allow its archfoe Iran to gain a foothold in Syria and become a serious existential security threat for Israel.

In 2022, Israel Defence Force Operation Directorates presented the military’s “Operation Outlook” for 2024. The underlying objective of the Defence Forces wouldn’t accept Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria.

Willy Russell has quipped that marriage is like the Middle East; there is no solution for it. And the Middle East seems to be following the path of mutual hostilities, distrust, escalation of conflict, and deplorable conditions of innocent civilians.

Peace is still waiting for its chance in this highly complex geopolitical quagmire.