As Turkish-Backed Jihadists Advance Into Syria, Israel Maintains Second Front With New Air Strikes

<p >Amid an <a href=" >ongoing offensive</a> by Turkish backed jihadist paramilitary forces in Syria’s Aleppo and Idlib governates, the Israeli Air Force has escalated air operations against Syrian targets. The strikes have fuelled widespread assessments that Tel Aviv and Ankara were trying to strain Syria and its strategic partners between two fronts, much as has been <a href=" target="_blank">assessed multiple times</a> during prior engagements. The Israel Defence Forces announced the first set of strikes on November 30, two days after offensives by Islamist paramilitaries had begun, with Israeli sources reporting that the attacks killed at least ten Syrian Army personnel. Israeli air units were subsequently confirmed to have forced an Iranian airliner to turn back mid-flight and leave Syrian airspace, at a time when Tehran was expected to provide increased support to Syria to hold back jihadist offensives. The Iranian Foreign Ministry on December 2 itself alleged that Israeli operations and the offensives by Turkish backed jiahdist groups were closely coordinated. </p><p ><img src=" title="Nusra Front Jihadist After Capture of Syrian City of Aleppo"></p><p >While jihadist groups such as the Al Nusra Front and the <a href=" target="_blank">East Turkestan Islamic Party</a> rely very heavily on Turkish material support and protection to sustain their operations, and have benefited extensively from <a href=" target="_blank">Turkish air and artillery support</a> during clashes with Syrian forces in the past, it is notable that air support has also been directly provided by Israel. An example was the <a href=" of air strikes </a>on March 29 targeting Syrian Army units in the Aleppo governate, the centre of currently ongoing hostilities, coinciding with escalated offensives by Turkish backed <a href=" militia groups</a> at the time. The attack, carried out by multiple F-16 fighters, caused close to 40 deaths and many more casualties, among them both civilians and military personnel, and were assessed to have provided valuable support to jiahdist offensives.<a href=" target="_blank"> Israeli attacks on Syria</a> have continued to escalate throughout 2024, placing further pressure on Damascus’ defences, with attacks consistently launched from outside Syrian airspace using air launched missiles to avoid the need to engage the country’s air defences. </p><p ><img src=" title="Nusra Front Jihadists After Capture of Syrian City of Aleppo"></p><p >Alongside Turkey and several of its NATO allies, Israeli support has <a href=" target="_blank">provided key support </a>to Islamist paramilitaries in Syria in their fight against the local government for over 13 years. An assessment published by Foreign Policy observed in 2018:  "Israeli financing allowed many militant groups to add significant numbers of new jihadists to their ranks….commanders would communicate with Israeli officials by phone and occasionally meet them face to face in the Israeli occupied Golan. When commanders switched groups and locations, Israeli assistance followed them.  These activities paired with an intensifying frequency of airstrikes on Syrian and allied targets from 2013 made Israel a very active participant in the Syrian war." This support also extended to “the embedding of officers in military units, paying of monthly salaries to militants and providing further financing for purchases of black market arms." This mirrored the kind of support being provided to jihadist groups in parallel by Turkey.</p>