The interests of both Turkey and Israel coincide and converge in weakening Syria, whether in changing the current regime loyal to Russia and the axis of resistance consisting of Iran, Hezbollah and Iraq — which they have succeeded in — or in dividing Syria into states and regions controlled by opposition factions, Kurds and Druze.
Israel and Turkey chose the right time to reinvigorate the civil war that erupted in 2011 (in what was known at the time as the “Arab Spring” that swept through several Arab countries) and weakened in 2018. Russia is currently preoccupied with its war against Ukraine and Iran, and its allies are exhausted from the war with Israel. Fearing that the Muslim jihadists will seize the Syrian army’s heavy and toxic weapons and use them against it, Israel may intervene militarily directly in the Syrian crisis under the pretext of defending the Kurds, Druze and other minorities, to the extent of seizing certain areas inside Syria. Israel already occupied the buffer zone on its border with Syria in the Golan Heights a few days ago.
It is worth noting that Israel already intervened indirectly when it received the White Helmets team, who cooperated with the forces and factions opposing the Syrian regime. Its members sought refuge in Israeli territory when they were besieged by the Syrian army. Israel ensured their safety by transferring them to Jordanian territory! As for Turkey, it has already intervened directly, militarily and politically, since the beginning of the civil war, providing the opponents of the Syrian regime with weapons and military experts. Turkish artillery shelled the Syrian town of “Kessab” with an Armenian majority before a ground attack carried out by the opposition. Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated openly that the current regime in Syria must be dissolved.
This is not the first time that the destructive interests and goals of Turkey and Israel have coincided. They previously worked together, hand in hand, to commit genocide against the Armenian people, when Azerbaijan launched a military attack on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on September 19, 2023.
Dr. Gaby KevorkianArmenian Quarter, Jerusalem
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