The blitzkrieg campaign by the Syrian rebel coalition headed by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani ended the five-decade rule of the Assad family in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad was removed from power after an arduous and long decade of protest by the rebel groups. Amidst the dramatic shift, the future stakes of Iran in Syria have come into the spotlight. Being a prominent ally of Assad, Iran has faced strategic setback in a country crucial to enhancing its strategic depth. Nevertheless, it is too early to determine the aspect of strategic defeat as Tehran has the vitality to recalibrate its policy.
Tag: Assad
Israel’s Ceasefire in Lebanon and Iran’s Next Move
Iran analysts live by two core assumptions: that the country wants to fight Israel through proxies, rather than directly, and that it doesn’t want all-out war. Both now look fragile. Iran launched missiles at Israel in April and October, both in retaliation for Israeli attacks. Most of the missiles were intercepted. But now Iran appears weaker: Israeli strikes on Iranian military facilities on October 26th struck a blow to its defences and its strategy. And the killing of Hizbollah’s top ranks dealt a blow to the “axis of resistance”, a group of militias backed by Iran.