Tag Archives: Syria

07Mar/23

Regional Crisis and Regional Cooperation: Israeli Response to the Earthquake in Syria and Turkey

Academic, Syria, Turkey, , ,

Regional Crisis and Regional Cooperation: Israeli Response to the Earthquake in Syria and Turkey | The Washington Institute

Israeli aid efforts to Turkey and Syria have been multifaceted after the earthquake, despite the difficult political circumstances.

On February 6th, the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria prompted an outpouring of international aid to the affected areas. Although the crisis coincided with a complex political situation in Israel—including ongoing domestic protests, escalating tensions with the Palestinians, and a newly formed government working to establish its position—Israeli aid organizations became one of the first foreign aid responders on the ground. As is sometimes the case in the Middle East, crises become a moment for countries to demonstrate a different side and even perhaps a show of unity. 

While Israel has long been active in emergency disaster relief missions in various countries around the world, four aspects of these current efforts are especially noteworthy. First, they involve both official teams from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a range of relevant Israeli NGOs working in parallel. Second, some of those NGOs are actively partnering with NGOs from other regional countries, both Turkish and Arab. Third, several of these NGOs have committed to ongoing aid efforts past the immediate rescue and relief period to facilitate long-term reconstruction. And fourth, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public announcement that part of Israel’s humanitarian aid would be delivered inside Syria marked a new development in its relationship with its northern neighbor—although the Assad regime refused such aid, and it is consequently being provided without publicity.

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05Jul/22

Israel and Syria: A Decade of War

Academic, , ,

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

22Sep/20

The Syria conflict: Latest developments

Middle East, Syria, , ,

Before it began, 2020 was assessed to be the last year of the Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011. This turned out to be either wishful thinking or an overly optimistic assumption which fell victim to the Coronavirus. As the year approaches its end, the conflict is still there, with most of the same domestic and foreign actors – the Assad regime and its opposition, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel, the United States and various Jihadi groups. What are the military and political pictures?

Panel: – Jonathan Hessen, Host.

– Amir Oren, Analyst.

– Prof. Zeev Khanin, Expert on Russian and Middle Eastern Studies, Bar Ilan and Ariel Universities.

– Dr. Nir Boms, Research Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.