Iran has announced that it will allow Russia to use Iranian bases “on a case by case basis” to launch air strikes against “terrorists” in Syria.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, Randa Slim, Paul Salem, and Eran Etzion provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition in D.C., the Iraqi Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S., the upcoming Arab League summit, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to China.
The Israeli prime minister’s visit to Moscow last week offered Israel and Russia an opportunity to ‘synchronize watches’ as a new phase in the Syrian war unfolds.
The visit was short and business-like. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tel Aviv in the morning and was back in Jerusalem that same evening. But his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, their fourth since the Russian intervention in September 2015, was long enough to reaffirm the principles that have enabled both Russia and Israel to protect their core interests in Syria.
A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Trump administration and its allies will not be able to establish safe zones in Syria, and that the deployment of American troops to Syria will also not change the trajectory of war in the Arab country, the Iranian Parliament’s official website reports.
Tensions between the two main opposition umbrellas—Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham—in northwestern Syria continue to rise. The two sides are clashing in different towns, and intensifying their media campaign against each other to justify their narrative and rally more support from civilians.
A powerful Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite militia group has announced the creation of a new brigade to “liberate” the Golan Heights from Israel, the Iranian media reports. “After the latest victories [in Syria and Iraq], we established the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’.
Iran’s Qom News reported on Friday that Sayed Abbas Mousavi, a commander of the Zainabyoun Brigade, was kidnapped in the Iranian holy city of Qom (the site has now deleted the report).
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Eran Etzion, Gerald Feierstein, and Robert S. Ford provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Israeli PM Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Moscow, Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir’s upcoming visit to Cairo, and the developing agenda for the Geneva 4 Syria peace talks.
Netanyahu to Make Another Trip to Moscow
Eran Etzion, MEI Scholar
Note: The latest issue of MEI’s Monday Briefing e-mail incorrectly linked to this page. If you’re looking for the Monday Briefing for March 6, click here.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) evidently continues to deploy cadets to battlefields in Syria as part of training its future offers. According to a senior I.R.G.C.
In the latest episode of escalating diplomatic tension between Tehran and Ankara, Iran’s foreign minister today blasted latest statements by Turkish officials accusing Iran of destabilizing the Middle East and fueling sectarian divide in the region.
