Can Syria cope with influx of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon?

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Updated 08 October 2024
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Can Syria cope with influx of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon?

  • Israel’s air and ground offensive has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into war-torn Syria
  • Where once Syrian refugees were fleeing to Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to those escaping war

LONDON: In just a week, an intensifying Israeli air and ground offensive in Lebanon has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into Syria, resulting in a stark reversal of fortunes for the two beleaguered neighbors.

Where once Syrian refugees were spilling over the border, escaping violence and hardship for the relative safety of Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to a desperate population fleeing war and economic collapse.

Both the Syrian government and civil society have been leading relief efforts. But, after 13 years of civil war, Syria is poorly equipped to adequately support the thousands displaced from Lebanon.

While Syria was an ally of Hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel, taking in some 250,000 refugees, according to UN figures, more than a decade of fighting and economic calamity has left the country deeply impoverished.




Lebanese customs officers help a woman walk 31 July 2006 at the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. (AFP/File)

Authorities in Syria estimate that since Sept. 23, more than 200,000 people have arrived at border crossings in Homs, the Damascus countryside, and the coastal governorate Tartous.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that around 60 percent of those crossing the border are actually Syrians — among the approximately 1.5 million who had fled to Lebanon after the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said those arriving — half of them minors — are “exhausted, scared and in need, arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse.”

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Sept. 27, Llosa related the story of one woman who had arrived at the border with the bodies of her two children so she could bury them in their Syrian homeland. She told aid officials that both had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon despite the country’s economic problems and mounting hostility against their community.




A woman holds her cat in front of a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut. (AP)

However, for those now crossing the border, the rapid escalation between Israel and Hezbollah appears to have eclipsed even these fears.

While communities in Syria welcomed their Lebanese neighbors with open arms back in 2006, treating them as guests rather than as refugees, the picture is very different today. With some 90 percent of the population barely making ends meet, few Syrians have anything to spare.

In 2018, the World Bank reclassified Syria as a low-income country. Its gross domestic product contracted by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2020 owing to the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of workers and professionals, and the collapse of economic networks.

Nezar Mihoub, head of the Syrian Public Relations Association, said that during the 2006 war, his Damascus-based organization alone “received some 15,000 displaced people from Lebanon.”

He told Arab News: “We had around 50 volunteers who would travel to the Syrian-Lebanese border to receive and transport Lebanese families from the border to the association’s headquarters.

“During that time, thousands of Syrian families from all sects and backgrounds generously opened their homes to Lebanese people and donated goods in abundance. At one point, Syrians even provided free dental and medical care.”

In one instance, a couple who were about to get married and who had a newly furnished home even postponed their wedding to accommodate a displaced Lebanese family, said Mihoub.

“Emotions ran high in 2006, and Syrians genuinely committed to their humanitarian efforts. But today, they are weary from war and the harsh living conditions.

INNUMBERS

• 1,000 People killed in Lebanon in Israeli strikes over the past two weeks.

• 1m+ People uprooted in Lebanon by ongoing Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

“Today, after more than a decade of war, both the Syrian people and government are depleted. The current economic situation makes it impossible for Syrian families to house and feed displaced Lebanese families as they did in 2006.”

He added: “With over 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line and many families relying on remittances from relatives abroad. The country lacks the resources and financial capacity it had in 2006.”

Support from UNHCR is expected to help ease the burden on the Syrian government and civil society groups, who are determined to stand in solidarity with those who have lost their homes in Lebanon.




A protester holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Lebanese people as intense Israeli attacks across Lebanon. (AFP)

Amal, a former Syria-based humanitarian worker whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told Arab News that “with adequate funding for humanitarian organizations and the government, Syria has the capacity to support those displaced from Lebanon.”

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, posted on X that the UN is appealing for $83 million to “urgently meet the needs” of Lebanon’s displaced people, “including those who have crossed the Syrian border.”

By taking in Lebanese refugees and Syrian returnees, Amal believes Syria itself can benefit from the additional humanitarian relief.

“When the Syrian government assists Lebanon’s displaced people, humanitarian funding will be redirected to support relief efforts in Syria,” she said.

“The situation in the region is undoubtedly tragic, but the scale of the crisis will prompt donors to redirect the flow of funds into Syria, as this is an urgent response. And since funding must correspond to the number of people in need, it should increase accordingly as more individuals enter Syria.”

Local authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNHCR, and civil society groups are present at four official border crossings on the Syrian side of the border, including Masnaa in Jdeidat Yabous, west of Damascus, and Arida in Tartous.

Services offered to new arrivals include medical aid, food, water, and blankets, transport to shelter and accommodation, legal advice, and psychological support.

“For the time being, these needs are largely being addressed thanks to relief supplies that we and other partners had in stock, but these will need to be replenished soon,” said UNHCR’s Llosa.




Israeli soldiers fire a tank round from a military position in Kibbutz Snir, along the border between Israel and Syria. (AFP/File)

From Sept. 24 to 29, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said its mobile clinics provided medical services to 5,074 people who were sick or injured. However, its staff say they have been overwhelmed by the scale of demand.

Local initiatives, such as the Damascus-based charity Mart Group, have stepped in to support relief efforts by distributing bottled water, snacks, and blankets. It has also been giving children wristbands with space to write their parents’ phone numbers in case they get lost.

Marwan Alrez, Mart’s general manager, whose team is stationed at the Masnaa crossing, described chaotic scenes at the border.

“When my team first arrived at the Masnaa border crossing, the first things we noticed were overcrowding, chaos and poor organization, which signaled the gravity of the situation in Lebanon,” he told Arab News.

“All of a sudden, the crossing, which previously handled around 300 travelers per day, is now receiving about 2,000 daily.”

Fortunately, most of the new arrivals have “connections or interests in Syria,” said Alrez. Indeed, while the majority are Syrian returnees, “many of the Lebanese families from South Lebanon have relatives and friends in Syria” with whom they can stay.




Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon. (AP)

There have, however, been claims of store holders and border officials ramping up prices and demanding fees in order to profit from the flow of refugees and returnees arriving in Syria from Lebanon.

According to some reports, Syrian returnees had until the end of September been required to pay $100 at the border, while Lebanese arrivals were not asked to present any funds.

“The Syrian refugee who sought shelter in Lebanon only to face further instability now has to pay a fee for the ‘privilege’ of returning to a country that offers no home — only the high probability of arrest and torture,” Syrian activist Douna Haj Ahmad told Arab News.

“The very Syrians who have endured years of war, bombings, and oppression are cast aside, their suffering compounded by this bitter betrayal, while others are welcomed with open arms.”

Karam Shaar, a senior fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, clarified that the Syrian regime was not taking $100 from Syrians upon arrival but was in fact exchanging it for the local currency, “giving the equivalent in Syrian pounds.”

However, he told Arab News the $100 paid by Syrians at the border was “exchanged at a rate that is currently lower than the black-market rate, which is considered the fair exchange rate as it’s determined by the powers of supply and demand.”

Whatever the nature of this exchange of funds, Zaher Sahloul, president of the US-based nongovernmental organization MedGlobal, said many Syrian refugees had been left “trapped at the border, unable to pay the $100 exchange fee required to enter Syria.”

In a statement on Sept. 30, he called for “immediate action” to “lift these barriers,” adding that “there are also widespread reports of Syrian refugees in Lebanon being denied access to shelter centers, with many now sleeping on roadsides, exposed to the elements.”

On Sep. 29, the Syrian government announced a one-week suspension of the requirement for Syrian citizens to exchange $100 at border crossings when entering the country.

Officials said the suspension came “in response to the emergency circumstances resulting from the Israeli aggression on Lebanese territories and the subsequent influx of arrivals at the border crossings.”

Shaar of the Newlines Institute believes the alleged preferential treatment of Lebanese arrivals compared to Syrian citizens is partly caused by feelings of “guilt,” saying: “The Syrian regime knows that it should have done much more at least to be aligned with its own rhetoric as part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ to support ‘Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.’”

The Axis of Resistance is a loose network of Iranian allies and proxies throughout the region opposed to Israel and its Western backers. Although Syria’s Bashar Assad regime is allied with the axis, it has been reluctant to provide material support to Hezbollah or Hamas.

“The Syrian regime is trying to distance itself as much as possible,” said Shaar. “It doesn’t want any military confrontation with Israel, and this has been the case for nearly a year now following the Oct. 7 (Hamas) attacks.”




A group of Syrian workers laugh as they head to the immigration office to flee Lebanon and cross to Syria at Jedeidet Yabus. (AFP/File)

Indeed, with armed opposition groups in control of Syria’s northwest, a Kurdish-led administration backed by 900 US troops in control of the northeast, and an ongoing Daesh insurgency in its eastern and central regions, the Assad regime has barely survived its grinding civil war, owing its success to its now preoccupied Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah allies.

Although regime-held areas have come under repeated Israeli fire in recent years, most notably the April 1 attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, these strikes have tended to be aimed at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which uses Syria as a land corridor to deliver weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It seems likely the Syrian regime will continue to actively avoid direct involvement in the present conflict. But if events escalate any further, engulfing the wider region, it may have little choice in the matter.

 


Israel and Iran trade strikes for a third day as nuclear talks are called off

Updated 15 June 2025
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Israel and Iran trade strikes for a third day as nuclear talks are called off

  • Iran FM says has ‘solid proof’ US forces supported Israel in attacks
  • Iran partially suspends production at South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike

DUBAI: Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day on Sunday and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country.

Planned talks on Iran's nuclear program, which could provide an off-ramp, were canceled.

The sixth round of US-Iran indirect talks on Sunday over Iran ‘s nuclear program will not take place, mediator Oman said.

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The region braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites on Friday killed several top generals and nuclear scientists, and neither side showed any sign of backing down.

Iran said Israel struck two oil refineries, raising the prospect of a broader assault on Iran's heavily sanctioned energy industry that could affect global markets.

The Israeli military, in a social media post, warned Iranians to evacuate arms factories, signaling what could be a further widening of the campaign. Around noon local time, explosions were heard again in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

US President Donald Trump has expressed full support for Israel’s actions while warning Iran that it can only avoid further destruction by agreeing to a new nuclear deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that if the Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then “our responses will also stop.” He said the United States “is a partner in these attacks and must take responsibility.”

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Israel air force struck ‘more than 80’ positions in Tehran

Israel’s military said Sunday that its air force had targeted “more than 80” positions in Iran’s capital Tehran in the third day of the most intense confrontation yet between the two arch-foes.

The strikes were conducted “throughout the night”, the military said in a statement, and “targeted more than 80 objectives, including the headquarters of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the nuclear project (SPND), and additional targets where the Iranian regime hid the nuclear archive”.

El Al cancels flights to and from many cities until June 23

Israel’s El Al Airlines has cancelled flights to and from many European cities as well as Tokyo and Moscow until June 23 owing to the conflict between Israel and Iran, it said on Sunday.
The Israeli flag carrier said that all flights have been cancelled up to and including June 17, with Israel’s airspace still closed.

Explosions in Tehran

New explosions echoed across Tehran and were reported elsewhere in the country early Sunday, but there was no update to a death toll released the day before by Iran’s UN ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.

In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, bringing the country’s total death toll to 13. The country’s main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day.

Israeli strikes targeted Iran’s Defense Ministry early Sunday after hitting air defenses, military bases and sites associated with its nuclear program. The killing of several top generals and nuclear scientists in targeted strikes indicated that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran at the highest levels.

Death toll mounts in Israel

In Israel, at least six people, including a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old, were killed when a missile hit an apartment building in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven are still missing.

An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass. Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors. Some people could be seen leaving the area with suitcases.

Another four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel. A strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42.

The Weizmann Institute of Science, an important center for research in Rehovot, said “there were a number of hits to buildings on the campus.” It said no one was harmed.

Israel has sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses that are able to detect and intercept missiles fired at populated areas or key infrastructure, but officials acknowledge it is imperfect.

Israel attacks defense ministry facility in Isfahan

Iranian media said Sunday that Israel attacked a facility affiliated with the defense ministry in the central city of Isfahan, on the third consecutive day of Israeli strikes.

“One of the centers affiliated with the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan was attacked, and possible damages are under investigation,” ISNA news agency reported quoting deputy provincial governor Akbar Salehi.

Pipelines, transmission lines in Haifa damaged

Israel’s Oil Refineries said its pipelines and transmission lines in Haifa had been damaged by missile strikes by Iran, according to a regulatory filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

It said that no injuries or casualties were reported at the sites, with refining facilities continuing to operate despite a shutdown of some downstream operations.

It said it is examining the impact of the damage on its operations and implications on its financial results.

Israeli military issues evacuation warning to Iranians

Israel on Sunday issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X in Arabic and Farsi.

The spokesperson said the evacuation warning includes all weapons factories and supporting facilities.

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Iran FM says has ‘solid proof’ US forces supported Israel in attacks

Araghchi said Sunday Tehran had evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign Israel launched against the Islamis republic this week.

“We have solid proof of the support of the American forces and American bases in the region for the attacks of the Zionist regime military forces,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats in a meeting broadcast on state TV.

Araghchi also slammed the United Nations Security Council, accusing it of “indifference” over Israel’s deadly attacks on the Islamic republic.

Gas field attack

In the first apparent attack to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure, Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.

The South Pars field, offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.

Fears about potential disruption to the region’s oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9 percent on Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.

An Iranian general, Esmail Kosari, said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf for tankers.

With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, said on Saturday that instead of exhausting all possibilities for a diplomatic resolution, Israel’s government had chosen to start a war that puts the entire region in danger.

Tehran has warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.

However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.

Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog, however, reported Iran this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

Iran says scores killed

Iran said 78 people were killed on the first day of Israel’s campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.

Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel.

With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

‘We will hit every site’

Israel said three people were killed and 76 wounded by Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile barrage overnight, which lit up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up Israel’s campaign.

“We will hit every site, every target of the ayatollah regime,” he said in a video statement, threatening greater action “in the coming days.”

He added that the Israeli campaign had dealt a “real blow” to Iran’s nuclear program and maintained it had the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s defense minister, Israel Katz, warned “Tehran will burn” if it kept targeting Israeli civilians.

Urgent calls to deescalate

World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China’s foreign minister said.

The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.

After decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time the arch-enemies have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a prolonged conflict that could engulf the Middle East.

Highlighting the unease, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned against a “devastating war” with regional consequences in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ankara said.

Jordan reopens airspace

Jordan announced the reopening of its airspace Sunday morning after a night of attacks by arch-foes Israel and Iran.

The civil aviation authority in Jordan, which borders Israel, said in a statement that the country’s airspace had been reopened “for civilian flights following a careful risk assessment.”

Turkiye denies sharing information with Israel

At the United Nations, the Turkish mission dismissed as "black propaganda" reports that “information was shared with Israel from the radar base in Kürecik.”

In a statement, the mission said the Kürecik Radar Station, a NATO installation, was established in line with Türkiye's national security and interests and is intended to ensure the protection of the NATO allies.

"The data obtained from the Kürecik radar base is exclusively shared with NATO allies within a specific framework, in accordance with NATO procedures," said the statement. "Sharing radar base data with non-NATO allies, such as Israel, is absolutely out of the question."

It maintained that "Türkiye stands against Israel's operations to destabilize the Middle East and will never support Israel's actions in this regard."

Reports of alleged data transmission came a day after Israel, without any provocation, bombarded Iran's capital on Friday. 

Iran calls nuclear talks ‘unjustifiable’

“We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing the bomb. But its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday, the UN’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes. Abbas Araghchi’s comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.

The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The US has said it isn’t part of the strikes.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear program, adding that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

‘More than a few weeks’ to repair nuclear facilities

Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said.

Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army’s initial assessment “it will take much more than a few weeks” for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had “concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.”

Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh. On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi.

Iran rallies citizens to unite, ‘rise up’ says Netanyahu

Iran called on its citizens to unite in the country’s defense, while Netanyahu urged them to rise up against against the government.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said Tehran had warned Britain, France and the United States it could retaliate if they came to Israel’s defense.

AFP images from the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showed blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris after Iran’s first wave of attacks.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck dozens of targets in Israel. One Iranian missile wounded seven Israeli soldiers, the military said.

Firefighters had worked for hours to free people trapped in a Tel Aviv high-rise building on Friday.

Chen Gabizon, a resident, said he ran to an underground shelter after receiving an alert.

“We just heard a very big explosion, everything was shaking, smoke, dust, everything was all over the place,” he said.

In Tehran, fire and heavy smoke billowed over Mehrabad airport on Saturday, an AFP journalist said.

The Israeli army said it had struck an underground military facility Saturday in western Iran’s Khorramabad that contained surface-to-surface and cruise missiles.

Iranian media also reported a “massive explosion” following an Israeli drone strike on an oil refinery in the southern city of Kangan.

The attacks prompted several countries to temporarily ground air traffic, though on Saturday Jordan, Lebanon and Syria reopened their airspace.

Iran’s airspace was closed until further notice, state media reported, as was Israel’s, according to authorities.


Timeline of tensions and hostilities between Israel and Iran

Updated 22 min 45 sec ago
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Timeline of tensions and hostilities between Israel and Iran

DUBAI: Israel and Iran opened a new chapter in their long history of conflict when Israel launched a major attack with strikes early Friday that set off explosions in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Israel said it targeted nuclear and military facilities, killing Iran’s top military and nuclear scientists.

Israel’s attack comes as tensions have escalated over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence.

Here is a timeline of some significant events in the hostilities between the two countries:

Early days
1967 — Iran takes possession of its Tehran Research Reactor under America’s “Atoms for Peace” program.

1979 — Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fatally ill, flees Iran as popular protests against him surge. Pahlavi maintained economic and security ties with Israel. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and the Islamic Revolution sweeps him to power. Students seize the United States Embassy in Tehran, beginning the 444-day hostage crisis. Iran’s nuclear program goes fallow under international pressure. Iran’s new theocracy identifies Israel as a major enemy.

August 2002 — Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal Iran’s secret Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

June 2003 — Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations.

October 2003 — Iran suspends uranium enrichment.

February 2006 — Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations.

June 2009 — Iran’s disputed presidential election sees Ahmadinejad reelected despite fraud allegations, sparking Green Movement protests and violent government crackdown.

October 2009 — Under President Barack Obama, the US and Iran open a secret backchannel for messages in the sultanate of Oman.

Iran’s nuclear program is a primary target
2010 — The Stuxnet computer virus is discovered and widely believed to be a joint US-Israeli creation. The virus disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges.

July 14, 2015 — World powers and Iran announce a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limits Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

2018 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel obtained tens of thousands of pages of data showing Iran covered up its nuclear program before signing a deal with world powers in 2015. An ex-Mossad chief confirms the information was obtained by more than a dozen non-Israeli agents from safes in Tehran in 2018. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdraws from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

2020 — Alleged Israeli attacks against Iran’s nuclear program are stepped up significantly after the disintegration of the 2015 nuclear deal meant to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

July 2020 — A mysterious explosion tears apart a centrifuge production plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran blames the attack on Israel.

November 2020 — A top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran. A top Iranian security official accuses Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill the scientist, who founded Iran’s military nuclear program in the 2000s.

April 11, 2021 — An attack targets Iran’s underground nuclear facility in Natanz. Iran blames Israel, which does not claim responsibility, but Israeli media widely reports the government orchestrated a cyberattack that caused a blackout at the facility.

April 16, 2021 — Iran begins enriching uranium up to 60 percent, its highest purity ever and a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

June 2022 — Iran accuses Israel of poisoning two nuclear scientists in different cities within three days of each other, though circumstances remain unclear.

Mideast wars
Oct. 7, 2023 — Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip storm into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, beginning the most intense war between Israel and Hamas. Iran, which has armed Hamas, offers support to the militants.

Feb. 14, 2024 — An Israeli sabotage attack causes multiple explosions on an Iranian natural gas pipeline running from Iran’s western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province to cities on the Caspian Sea.

April 1, 2024 — An Israeli airstrike demolishes Iran’s Consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including two Iranian generals.

April 14, 2024 — Iran launches an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, firing over 300 missiles and attack drones in response to the Israeli airstrike in Damascus. Working with a US-led international coalition, Israel intercepts much of the incoming fire.

April 19, 2024 — A suspected Israeli strike hits an air defense system near an airport in Isfahan, Iran.

July 31, 2024 — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is assassinated by an apparent Israeli airstrike during a visit to Tehran. Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7 attack.

Sept. 27, 2024 — Israeli airstrike kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Formed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who went to Lebanon in 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces, Hezbollah was the first group that Iran backed and used as a way to export its brand of political Islam.

Oct. 1, 2024 — Iran launches its second direct attack on Israel, though a US-led coalition and Israel shoot down most of the missiles.

Oct. 16, 2024 — Israel kills Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip.

Oct. 26, 2024 — Israel openly attacks Iran for the first time, striking air defense systems and sites associated with its missile program.

April 30, 2025 — Iran executes a man it said worked for Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency and played a role in the killing of Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran on May 22, 2022.

Friday, June 13, 2025 — Israel launches blistering attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear and military structure, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

Saturday, June 14, 2025 — Israel expands its airstrikes to include targets in Iran’s energy industry as Iranian missile and drone attacks continue on Israel.

Sunday, June 15, 2025 — Israel unleashes airstrikes across Iran for a third day and threatens even greater force as some Iranian missiles evade Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country. Planned talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Oman between the United States and Tehran, which could provide an off-ramp, are called off.


Iran says Israel attack on Gulf gas facility attempt ‘to expand war’

Updated 15 June 2025
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Iran says Israel attack on Gulf gas facility attempt ‘to expand war’

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday Israel’s attack on a major gas facility on the shore of the Gulf sought “to expand the war beyond” Iran.
“Dragging the conflict into the Arabian Gulf region is a major strategic mistake, likely deliberate and intended to extend the war beyond Iranian territory,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats, referring to the attack on the South Pars refinery, adding that that attack was “an extremely dangerous move.”


Jordan reopens airspace after overnight Israel-Iran attacks

Updated 15 June 2025
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Jordan reopens airspace after overnight Israel-Iran attacks

AMMAN: Jordan announced the reopening of its airspace Sunday morning after a night of attacks by arch-foes Israel and Iran.
The civil aviation authority in Jordan, which borders Israel, said in a statement that the country’s airspace had been reopened “for civilian flights following a careful risk assessment.”
The kingdom had closed the airspace late Saturday, its second closure since the start of the most intense direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.


Israel’s goal might be regime change in Iran: Experts

Updated 15 June 2025
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Israel’s goal might be regime change in Iran: Experts

  • Iran’s leadership will define victory as being its ‘survival’: Middle East Institute senior fellow
  • Ex-US Navy commander: ‘It’s a long shot that they’ll come to the (negotiating) table in the near future’

CHICAGO: Israel’s military assault against Iran could continue for weeks, with the possible goal of regime change, a panel of experts hosted by the Middle East Institute said on Saturday.

Panelists included retired Gen. Joseph L. Votel, former commander of US Central Command; retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, former commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet; and Alex Vatanka, MEI senior fellow and Iran specialist who also teaches at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Vatanka said it is too early to determine if Israel’s main goal besides crippling Iran’s nuclear program is regime change, but “we might be going in (that) direction.”

He added: “That’s certainly what I think a majority of Iranian officials think that Israel wants. The big unknown in all of this is whether the Israelis somehow can get (US President Donald) Trump to buy into it the way he bought into the initial attack on Iran.”

Israel has launched attacks against an array of Iranian targets, including its military leadership and nuclear program. Tehran has responded by launching missiles and drones at Israel.

The panelists were in agreement in their belief that the conflict would not expand to include other countries.

Iran’s leadership will define victory as being its “survival,” Vatanka said, adding that while Israel has the backing of the US and “most of Europe,” Tehran “isn’t getting any help from anyone.”

He said: “I don’t think they’re getting help from what’s left of the axis of resistance … I question what the axis of resistance members can actually do at this point.”

Its members include Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been severely weakened by Israel’s military, and the Houthis in Yemen. It included Syria until the fall of President Bashar Assad in December.

Donegan said: “I think the question is, does Iran think they’ve done enough in terms of lashing back that they can throw an olive branch to get some talks going again? I think it’s a long shot, to be honest, that they’ll come to the table in the near future.”

Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, but “the problem with closing Hormuz is they then don’t get the economic benefit of flowing their oil out,” he added.

The end game will be defined by how far Israel intends to go with its war, the panelists said.

“The Americans are playing the good cop here. President Trump has kept the door for diplomacy open,” Vatanka said.

“The Israelis are playing the bad cop, saying, ‘If you don’t give Trump what he wants then we’ll come after you.’”