Friedman: The real next war in Syria: Iran vs. Israel

Palestinian protesters cover during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 5, 2018. An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, while a second man died from wounds sustained in last week's mass protest. The fatalities bring to 21 the number of people killed in confrontations in the volatile area over the past week with a new round of protests along the border is expected on Friday. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Palestinian protesters cover during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 5, 2018. An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, while a second man died from wounds sustained in last week's mass protest. The fatalities bring to 21 the number of people killed in confrontations in the volatile area over the past week with a new round of protests along the border is expected on Friday. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

SYRIA-ISRAEL BORDER, Golan Heights - Ever since the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran and Israel have been fighting each other in the shadows - through proxies, assassination squads and cybervirus attacks, but never as rival armies meeting on the field of battle. That may be about to change, and if it does, it will have vast implications for Syria, Lebanon and the whole Middle East.

I'm sure neither side really wants a war. It could be devastating for Israel's flourishing high-tech economy and for Iran's already collapsing currency. But Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force seems determined to try to turn Syria into a base from which to pressure Israel, and Israel seems determined to prevent that. And in the past few weeks - for the first time ever - Israel and Iran have begun quietly trading blows directly in Syria.

They have already gone through two rounds, and Round 3, now pending, could blow Syria sky-high.

Round 1 occurred on Feb. 10, when an Iranian drone launched by a Quds Force unit operating out of Syria's T4 air base was shot down with a missile from an Israeli Apache helicopter that was following it after it penetrated northern Israel airspace.

Initial reports were that the drone was purely on a reconnaissance mission. But the Israeli army's spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said Friday that the flight path and Israel's analysis of the drone indicated that its mission was "an act of sabotage in Israeli territory."

"This is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel - not by proxy," a senior Israeli military source told me. "This opened a new period."

It certainly did, because in Round 2, on April 9, Israeli jets launched a missile strike on T4, the drone's home base - directly targeting, for the first time, an Iranian facility and personnel in Syria. Seven Quds Force members were killed, including Col. Mehdi Dehghan, who led the drone unit.

While the Israeli army spokesman refused to confirm or deny the Israeli raid, Iran's government unusually highlighted it - and Iran's casualties - and vowed to take revenge.

"The Zionist entity will sooner or later receive the necessary response and will regret its misdeeds," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, said Monday.

So now the whole neighborhood is holding its breath: Will there be a Round 3?

Iran has legitimate security concerns in the Gulf; it faces a number of hostile, pro-American Sunni Arab powers trying to contain its influence and undermine its Islamic regime. From Iran's perspective, these are a threat. I get that.

But what is Iran doing in Syria?

Tehran's building of bases and missile factories in Syria, after having helped President Bashar Assad largely crush the uprising against him, appears to be a move by the Quds Force's Suleimani to extend Iran's grip on key parts of the Sunni Arab world and advance his position at home in his struggle for power with Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president. The Quds Force now more or less controls - through proxies - four Arab capitals: Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad and Sanaa.

Even before the recent clashes with Israel, many average Iranians were publicly asking: What is Iran doing spending billions of dollars - which were supposed to go to Iranians as a result of the lifting of sanctions from the Iran nuclear deal - fighting wars in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen? That concern is surely one reason Iran, for all its fist-shaking - has not retaliated - yet.

Suleimani could opt to strike back at Israel through proxies, either in the Middle East or against Israeli targets globally. But he now has to think twice about that, both because his forces in Syria are exposed - and for another reason: Iran is exposed financially. Iran's currency is collapsing back home. The Iranian rial has lost one-third of its value just this year, which a wider confrontation with Israel would only exacerbate.

But economic restraints have never stopped Suleimani and his Quds Force before and may not now. Their ambitions are big - to create a base to pressure Israel directly, to dominate the Arab states around them and to maintain the fervor of the Islamic Revolution. Everyone is basically awaiting Suleimani's next move. Does he back down, lose a little face, and wait until he is stronger? Does Israel let him?

These are momentous days for both countries. One thing I know for sure. The status quo is not sustainable.

The New York Times

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