The structures of Israel's security strategy in the Syrian crisis (2011-2021)

پژوهش نامه ایرانی سیاست بین الملل

Article 21, Volume 12, Issue 1 - Serial Number 23, November 2023, Pages 558-585   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/irlip.2023.76537.1276

Authors

Mehdi Najafi¹; Ali Esmaeili^{* 2}

¹. Graduated the Political Science Master, Department of Political Science, Bushehr Branch , Islamic Azad University, , Bushehr, Iran

². Assistant Professor of Political Science Department, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, , Bushehr, Iran (Corresponding Author)

Abstract

Israel's presence at the heart of security conflicts and challenges in the Middle East over the past several decades has established a deep relationship between Israel's national security and regional developments. This study aims to analyze the factors affecting Israel's security strategy against the Syrian crisis during 2011-2021. Therefore, the main question of the study is: how have the characteristics of the Syrian crisis during 2011-2021 affected Israel's security strategy against this crisis? Findings of the study show that the Syrian crisis for Israel, was innovative and surprise , and the level of threat severe due to the spread of the crisis to the country through the conflicts in the Syrian Golan, the migration of Palestinian refugees living in Syria and Syrian Druze to Israel, and the strategic arms of Syria falling into the hands of the group Anti-Israeli in the event of the fall of the Assad government were emerging, surprising, and the level of threat was severe, but the response time was sufficient. Israel's security strategy at this stage was the "policy of limited intervention" which focused on responding to the unwanted firing of bullets from Syria into Israel, the bombing of convoys transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon, and the secret financial, logistical, and medical aid to the anti-Assad rebels in southern Syria. But with the military presence of Iran and its allies to support the Assad government and their role in changing the balance in favor of the Syrian government and their deployment in southern Syria at the end of 2016, the Syrian crisis for Israel has become a deliberative, predictable, more severe threat and response time. enough, and Israel's strategy changed from a limited intervention to a fully aggressive strategy of "Campaign between Wars" (Mabam) against Iran and its allies in 2017 to 2021, which has focused on creating a buffer zone in the south of Syria, extensive and heavy bombing of the forces of Iran and its allies throughout the territory of Syria. The research method in this research is descriptive-analytical and the data collection method is library and internet sources.

Keywords

Security Strategy; Israel; Syrian Crisis; Crisis Cube; Axis of Resistance

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