Tag Archives: Iran
Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles; OPCW voices deep concerns – Jerusalem Studio 788
For the last 10 years Syria has been a Member-State of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and has undertaken obligations to get rid of all facilities and stockpiles of these horrendous means of destruction. The OPCW has a cumbersome mechanism of inquiries, fact-finding, investigations and reports. So while it was obvious to objective outside observers that the Assad regime had no qualms using gas on rebels and civilians alike, Damascus managed to get away with murderous attack, regardless of periodic inspections and protests. Following the most recent report by the OPCW Director-General, Spanish Ambassador Fernando Arias, what is the current status of suspected Syrian Chemical weapons? Panel: – Host : Jonathan Hessen – Amir Oren : Editor at Large, Host of Watchmen Talk and Powers in Play – Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University – LT. COL. Sarit Zehavi CEO & Founder of Alma Research & Education Center.
Israel and Syria: A Decade of War
Nir Boms & Stéphane Cohen
Happy to share my latest long-form article that summarizes over a decade of Israeli involvement in Syria following the Syrian uprising-turned-war that began on March of 2011. The article summarizes a decade of work on the subject that became central to my work and that also serves as a fascinating chapter of Israeli foreign policy which included an unprecedented humanitarian operation at its core. In the last decade, I had the chance of meeting hundreds of Syrians. The engagement with Syrians happened in Syrian Refugee camps; on the ground with the Free Syrian Army; at Israeli hospitals that treated over 5,000 of them; in Jordan, Turkey, Europe and elsewhere where some of the first meetings between Syrians and Israelis took place; and, also, around my Shabbat table which hosted many Syrian friends and partners throughout last decade. All of that resulted in what I hope you will find as a useful analysis.
The enclosed, written with my friend and partner for this work Stéphane Cohen attempts to summarize a decade of Israeli involvement in Syria.
In August 2021, Israel and Lebanon marked fifteen years since the start of the Second Lebanon War. A month later, in September, the world marked twenty years since the 9/11 terror attacks and the end of the United States and NATO campaign in Afghanistan. But the year 2021 also marked ten years since the beginning of the war in Syria that continues despite the attempts to stabilize the country and begin rehabilitation efforts.
Eleven years ago, in Daraa, Syria—not far from Israel’s northern border—antiregime protests broke out following the arrests of Syrian teenagers responsible for antigovernmental graffiti. The “boys that started the Syrian revolution” quickly became one of its icons, and Daraa one of its symbols. A decade later, in 2021, it seems that little has changed. Bashar al-Assad continues to serve as Syria’s president, sworn in for seven more years1 (a fourth term) as he receives renewed legitimacy among the ranks of the Arab League and even in Israel. The Syrian army and its security forces—the same ones who “won” the war in 2018—continue to fight an insurgency in the south. Syrians are killed from both sides—regime and opposition alike (“Syrians,” as the war taught us, became a relative term for militias and foreign fighters on both sides). In the summer of 2021, shortly after the presidential elections, the regime decided to put an end to the bloody insurgency in southern Syria and sent troops, supported by Iranian proxies, to again crush defiant Daraa.
Although Daraa continues to burn, a decade of war has brought tectonic change to Syria, just like it altered the way Israel engaged with that country, its people,
and the Syrian arena at large. A decade of Israeli policy and involvement in Syria will be examined here, and some initial insights about the years ahead will be
offered
Full article in Israeli Journal of Foreign Affairs here
New Tensions in Israel – an Update
For several years now, Israel’s domestic security situation was considered relatively good, with long periods of quiet occasionally punctured by few incidents and frequent reports of air strikes against hostile targets in neighboring countries.
Military Intelligence nevertheless continued to issue strategic alerts regarding an outbreak of violence emanating from the West Bank, due either to internal Palestinian tensions or individual frustrations. Whatever the cause, the warnings were proved correct with a series of deadly attacks on civilians in major urban centers.
With fear turning to panic, Israel’s political and security leaders tried to go on the offensive, responding to the series of terror attacks with “Operation Waves Breaker,” particularly focused on the Palestinian Authority district of Jenin.
How effective can such missions be and what are the possible repercussions?
Panel:
– Amir Oren, Host; Editor at Large, Host of Watchmen Talk and Powers in Play.
– Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, Project Director on Middle East Developments, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
– Dr. Nir Boms, Research Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
– Col. (Res.) Reuven Ben-Shalom, TV7 Powers-in-Play Panelist, Cross-Cultural Strategist and Associate at ICT, Reichman University.