UN Fears the Gaza and Lebanon Wars Spreading to Syria

The United Nations has warned that Syria is on the brink of a “military, humanitarian, and economic storm,” alerting to escalating violence within the country and the extension of conflicts from Gaza and Lebanon. Sources say that the Israeli Prime Minister is seeking to escalate tensions in the region and drag the United States into a war with Iran and its proxies, with Syria being one of the arenas where this conflict could unfold.

Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told the Security Council that “the fires of conflict are blazing in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, and also in Lebanon,” adding, “this heat can also be felt in Syria.” He warned that “the spread of regional conflict into Syria is concerning and could worsen.”

While Israel has targeted Hezbollah sites in Syria for years, it has increased its airstrikes in the country as its war in Lebanon expands, accusing Hezbollah of transferring weapons to Lebanon via Syria.

Pedersen told the Security Council that Syria had “witnessed last month the fastest and most extensive Israeli air campaign in the past 13 years,” adding that residential areas, “even in the heart of Damascus,” were bombed.

One soldier was killed, and seven others were injured early Thursday in an “Israeli air aggression” on the capital Damascus and the Homs countryside, according to Syrian regime media.

The “SANA” news agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported that “early today, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan and from northern Lebanon,” explaining that the air raid “targeted two points in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of Damascus and a military site in the Homs countryside.”

The source reported the “martyrdom of one soldier, injury of seven others, and material damage.” Israel usually remains silent regarding its strikes on Syria.

On Monday evening, a car exploded after being targeted in Damascus, with Israeli news outlets on Telegram circulating reports of the assassination of the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziad Nakhalah, which the movement denied.

On October 10, the Israeli army launched airstrikes on a car factory in the Homs countryside and a military site in the Hama countryside (central Syria), causing material damage, according to “SANA.”

Since 2011, Israel has occasionally launched airstrikes on Syria, claiming they target Iran-backed groups and Syrian regime military positions.

Recently, shelling between Iran-backed militias and US forces has increased on Syrian soil in the context of the war in Gaza and Lebanon.

In the northwest of the country, it seems that the regional escalation is “fueling” the internal conflict in Syria, Pedersen said, referring to the recent attack by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on areas controlled by government forces.

He added that, in the meantime, Russian airstrikes, which support the Syrian government, have resumed for the first time in months, while “pro-government forces have significantly accelerated their drone strikes.”

“We are seeing all the components of a military, humanitarian, and economic storm brewing in war-torn Syria,” he said.

The Syrian war, which erupted from anti-government protests in 2011, has left more than 500,000 dead and millions displaced. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey in northern Syria was declared in 2020, although it is frequently violated.

Pedersen warned that “regional escalation could lead to the collapse of ceasefire agreements, which, although incomplete, have provided a necessary freeze on frontlines” over the past four years.