December 6: Syria explodes back into the headlines

In which, Syria comes out of nowhere, concerns about democracy are more applicable outside the US, but that Hunter pardon, tho…

Syria explodes back into the headlines

So, the Syrian civil war, going strong since 2014, never fully went away, it was just decidedly a tertiary concern in a region dominated by Iran and Israel’s escalating conflict. With the complex proxy warfare happening around Israel, the Syrian civil war seemed an almost parochial concern. Until it wasn’t.

Taking advantage of both Russian and Iran’s distraction and resource drainage for their ongoing conflicts elsewhere, a coalition of rebel groups launched a surprisingly effective offensive on the Bashar al-Assad regime’s positions around major Syrian cities last week. The offensive took Aleppo, then Hama, two major cities that had been held by the Assad regime for some time.

No doubt, part of the reason Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon was so that it could redeploy resources to protect its Syrian supply line to Iran. With its air defenses compromised by Israel and a major supply route to a key proxy in jeopardy, Iran is suddenly on the defensive in the region, and President-elect Trump recognizes that, too. No wonder Iran is carrying out cyber attacks on Trump cabinet picks. There’s a certain desperation to Iranian actions at the moment.