Syria quietly opened airspace to Israel for strikes on Iran
During Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, the Syrian government under president Ahmed al-Sharaa allowed Israel to fly through its airspace without hindrance.
“Every blow to Iran is pure benefit to al-Sharaa's regime,” University of Haifa Professor Amatzia Baram explained to Hebrew-language news site Maariv.
Ahmed Al-Sharaa helped topple the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria last year.
Assad, who was president of Syria from 2000 to 2024, was a long-time ally of the Iranian regime.
Baram said that Al-Sharaa is “quietly grateful to us for what we’ve done,” since Iran is an enemy of both Israel and the new Syrian government.
“The Iranians are looking for a way to get rid of him and return Syria to their sphere of influence,” Baram argued. “He knows this, and he understands that now it will be more difficult for them to do so.”
While al-Sharaa has long been actively involved in leading jihadist groups, the Syrian government under his leadership has been conducting talks with Israel.
“There is direct daily dialogue at all levels between Israel and the regime in Syria,” Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said earlier this week. “I am leading it with political officials there.”
Speculation is growing that Syria could join the Abraham Accords, as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff hinted on Wednesday that a number of unexpected countries may soon normalize relations with Israel.
“We think we're going to have some pretty big announcements on countries that are now coming in to the Abraham Peace Accords,” Witkoff said.
"We’re hoping for normalization across an array of countries that maybe people would have never contemplated would come in.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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