Syria, Reduced To A Rump State, Could Become A Footnote of History

The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime creates new uncertainties, yet from an Israeli security perspective represents a net strategic gain. 

Iran invested tens of billions of dollars and over a decade of effort into smuggling advanced weaponry and deploying tens of thousands of Shi’ite militia operatives in Syria. Those efforts have now been wasted. 

After losing its influence in Gaza and Lebanon due to Israel’s military achievements against Hamas and Hezbollah, Assad’s collapse in Syria has delivered another major defeat to Iran’s regional aspirations. 

. . .This does not mean all is now quiet on the Syrian front. The umbrella Syrian coalition of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani and formerly tied to Al Qaeda under the name Jabhat al-Nusra, has emerged as the dominant Sunni insurgent force. The Syrian National Army—a nationalist rebel coalition backed by Turkey—is another major player on the ground.

Israel will have to monitor their activities closely. Yet, when stacked against the capabilities of the Iranian-led Shi’ite axis, these Sunni rebels represent a far weaker force, with fewer advanced capabilities and a limited focus that remains largely confined to Syrian territory, at least for the near future.

Mount Hermon is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and, at 2,814 m (9,232 ft) above sea level, is the highest point in Syria. On the top, in the United Nations buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli-occupied territories, is the highest permanently manned UN position in the world, known as “Hermon Hotel”, located at 2814 metres altitude (9,232 ft). The southern slopes of Mount Hermon extend to the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, where the Mount Hermon ski resort is located with a top elevation of 2,040 metres (6,690 ft).

. . .In the apocryphal Book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the Watcher class of fallen angels descended to Earth. They swear upon the mountain that they would take wives among the daughters of men and take mutual imprecation for their sin (Enoch 6).

According to the controversial research by Professor Israel Knohl of the Hebrew University, in his book Hashem, Mount Hermon is actually the Mount Sinai mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, with the biblical story reminiscent of an ancient battle of the northern tribes with the Egyptians somewhere in the Jordan Valley or Golan Heights.

R.T. France, in his book on the Gospel of Matthew, noted that Mount Hermon was a possible location of the Transfiguration of Jesus, just as it has elsewhere been described as the site accepted by most scholars.