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Can Syria’s Assad Be Distanced from Iranian-Hezbollah Influence?

Syrians and Palestinians living in Syria stand next to a poster depicting Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad as they mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Damascus, Syria April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
JNS.org – As Israel continues to degrade Iranian and Hezbollah capabilities in Lebanon, Syria and Iran itself, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faces growing pressure to manage Tehran’s presence within his borders.
How will Assad respond to the changing balance of power in the region, which has dramatically reduced the power of the Iranian-led jihadist axis? An axis that he depended on to rescue him during the Syrian civil war, and which is currently attempting to turn Syria into an additional war front against Israel (an effort that has been significantly hampered by years of Israeli airstrikes, going back to 2011).
Professor Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University and chair of its contemporary Middle East history department, believes that “Assad will not give up the connection with Iran, which helped him survive the civil war,” but that on the other hand “he does not want the Iranians to drag him into a confrontation with Israel.”
Speaking to JNS on Tuesday, Zisser assessed that Assad might even welcome a limit to Iran’s influence within Syria, since too prominent an Iranian presence could provoke Israeli attacks on his regime. However, he continued, while Assad could conceivably follow through with some reduction of Iran’s presence in Syria, it is unlikely that he would completely disconnect from Tehran.
On October 12, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Syria’s 4th Division, led by Maj.-Gen. Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother, had implemented measures designed to avoid Israeli airstrikes. “The command of the 4th Division has ordered subordinated troops not to move weapons or host Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militia members within the headquarters and bases of the 4th Division,” according to SOHR.
Additionally, these orders restricted forces from targeting U.S. troops in Syria, as well as attacks on the Golan Heights in Israel from 4th Division sites, according to the report.
Hezbollah’s Golan File is a unit designed to create a network of proxy terrorist cells, bases and surveillance posts in southern Syria, while Hezbollah’s Southern Command in Syria works to create Hezbollah infrastructure in the area, including in Syrian military and observation posts.
In recent days, the Israeli Defense Forces notably targeted significant threats posed by Iranian and Hezbollah activities in Syria.
On Monday, the IDF confirmed a strike against what it said were Hezbollah intelligence facilities in Syria. The operation was directed against the organization’s central intelligence branch, which includes a specialized network under the command of Hezbollah’s head of intelligence, Hassan Ali al-Zaima, who, alongside Hashem Safieddine, the late head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, was killed in Beirut’s Dahiyeh area in September.
Mahmoud Mohammed Shaheen, Hezbollah’s long-serving head of intelligence in Syria, was also eliminated in the strike, representing a major setback for Hezbollah’s operational intelligence capabilities.
The IDF stated that Shaheen’s elimination constituted “a further degradation of Hezbollah’s intelligence capabilities,” and that the strikes on Tuesday severely hindered Hezbollah’s intelligence assets in Syria.
These attacks are part of a broader Israeli strategy aimed at eroding the military capabilities of Iran’s regional allies and Tehran’s entrenchment in Syria.
During a webinar held by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) on Oct. 27, IDF Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaacov Ayish, former Israeli military attaché in Washington D.C., stated that Israel’s Oct. 26 airstrike in Iran was significant for other players in the region as well.
Ayish noted the destruction of Iranian S-300 air defense systems in that attack, systems that are considered a “very expensive, scarce commodity nowadays, and not only in Iran … also in Lebanon, Syria, the Ukraine-Russia war and elsewhere.”
Israel’s destruction of these systems in Iran sends a message to others in the region, including the Assad regime, about their vulnerability to Israeli strikes, which could influence their behavior regarding Iranian-Shi’ite terrorist entities on their soil.
Russia, for its part, which depends on Iran for missile and drone deliveries amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, continues to operate its Khmeimim airbase on the Syrian coastline, in northwest Syria. The Alma Center, an Israeli research center specializing in northern threats to the Jewish state, has assessed in recent months the Russian-controlled base, which forms the main Russian military presence in Syria, could be used to help transfer Iranian weapons to Syria as part of Moscow’s quid pro quo arrangement with Iran.
At the same time, during the Oct. 27 JINSA webinar former Israeli national security adviser IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror stated that the Russians would not “interfere actively” with any Israeli strikes, adding that they do not want to be placed in a position that shows that their “systems do not work.”
Ultimately, even a reduction by Assad of the Iranian presence in specific areas would represent a gain for Israel, not only at the tactical threat level but also as an expression of the waning power of the Iranian-led Shi’ite axis in the Middle East.
The post Can Syria’s Assad Be Distanced from Iranian-Hezbollah Influence? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.