IranIran Pulling Military Out of Syria in Response to Intensified Israeli Attacks

Published 5 May 2020

Israeli defense officials told reporters Tuesday that Iranian forces are pulling out of Syria and closing military bases, arms depots, arms manufacturing facilities, and military research labs there. In recent months, Israel has intensified its air attacks against Iranian forces, and against Hezbollah targets, in Syria, as well as against the Assad regime forces protecting Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Israeli defense officials told reporters Tuesday that Iranian forces are pulling out of Syria and closing military bases, arms depots, arms manufacturing facilities, and military research labs there. In recent months, Israel has intensified its air attacks against Iranian forces, and against Hezbollah targets, in Syria, as well as against the Assad regime forces protecting Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Israel’s campaigns against Irani’s growing presence in Syria has been going on for about seven years, after Iran began sending its troops and its proxies into Syria to prevent the collapse of the Shi’ite Assad regime under the pressures of the anti-regime rebels. In recent months Israel has significantly expanded its campaign, increasing the number of strikes, their scope, and the range of targets involved. Israel has been attacking Iranian targets throughout Syria, but there has been an even greater emphasis on destroying Iranian targets in and around the capital Damascus.

Over the last few days, Iran has closed several of its military bases and arms depots in Syria, using trucks and transport planes to take soldiers and military gear back to Iran.

“We are determined, more determined [than Iran], and I can tell you why — for Iran, Syria is an adventure happening 1,000 kilometers away from home. For us, it’s our lives,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday.

“Iranian soldiers who come to Syria and operate there, their lives are in their hands. They are putting their lives at risk, they are paying that price and will continue to do so. We will not give up and we will not allow the establishment of an Iranian forward operating base in Syria,” Bennett said.

The number of transport flights from Iran to Syria, carrying advanced munitions into the country, have also dropped dramatically in the past half-year, apparently the result of Israeli strikes on the airports in Syria where these flights would land.

The Times of Israel reports that in addition to increasing the number of strikes on Iran-backed forces in Syria, Israel has also targeted a larger number of Syrian military air defense systems.

“Syria is paying a growing price for the Iranian presence in its territory, for a war that isn’t [Syria’s]. Iran has turned from an asset to Syria into a burden,” the defense officials told reporters.

They added that Israel plans to keep up its pressure on Iran until its military leaves Syria for good.

The removal of Iranian troops from Syria, and the closure of Iranian military bases, weapons research labs, and arms manufacturing facilities which Iran has built in Syria – and which have been the targets of sustained Israel air attacks – is bad news for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite militia.

Iran was working to establish a permanent military presence in Syria in order to use it as a springboard for attacks against Israel — but also to place Iran in a better position to turn Hezbollah into an even greater threat to Israel than it is already. With Iran financial, logistical, and training support, Hezbollah has become one of the most powerful military forces in the region, with capabilities exceeding those of many sovereign nations.

Iran’s main effort in recent years was helping Hezbollah convert its massive arsenal of simple rockets into far more lethal precision-guided missiles, a project that the IDF has designated as the second-most significant threat to the country after Iran’s nuclear program.