Syria’s Border with Iraq

Washington made it clear over the summer that it disapproved of Israel’s indirect negotiations with Syria. There were many reasons to believe the talks would be inconclusive, but could provide political capital for the Assad regime, particularly if Israel asked the United States to participate in some capacity.

Washington made it clear over the summer that it disapproved of Israel’s indirect negotiations with Syria. There were many reasons to believe the talks would be inconclusive, but could provide political capital for the Assad regime, particularly if Israel asked the United States to participate in some capacity.

In a recent interview, Israel’s chief of military intelligence said, “Hezbollah operatives are working from within Syria. The Syrians are loosening all restraints, and [giving] Hezbollah access to almost all of their strategic capabilities. [Assad] is continuing to open up his warehouses to Hezbollah… Syria and Iran are buying the regime in Lebanon and are pouring substantial money into buying parliamentary representatives… The Iranian offer to assist in the building of the Lebanese Army is a ruse to take control of Lebanon.”

This, plus Syria’s acquisition of nuclear-related technology from North Korea and the increasing instability inside Syria itself – a riot in a political prison that killed more than 100 people, car bombings, the assassination of Assad’s liaison to Hezbollah, and Syria’s increasing involvement with Fatah al Islam, an al Qaeda offshoot in northern Lebanon – make Syria increasingly less likely, not more likely, to cut ties with Iran, a precondition for the security Israel requires.

But none of this accounts for American unhappiness; Syria’s eastern border does.

On Sunday, U.S. forces in Iraq crossed into Syria. According to the Associated Press, a U.S. official said, “The attack targeted elements of a robust foreign fighter logistics network and that due to Syrian inaction the U.S. was now taking matters into our own hands,” adding that U.S. forces have had considerable success in shutting down the “rat lines” in Iraq with help from Iraq and governments in North Africa, but “the Syrian part of the network has been out of reach.”

According to the Associated Press, the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq told Pentagon reporters that American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq’s borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries, but that Syria was a “different story.” “The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side,” Kelly said. “We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement.”

Iraqi and American forces inside Iraq have driven most of al Qaeda out, permitting the Sunni community to begin to find its way toward reconciliation with the government in Baghdad. A pipeline for al Qaeda from Syria to Iraq would ensure continuing turmoil where Iraqis most need quiet.

Syrian irredentism in the east and in the west threatens American efforts to stabilize and strengthen pro-Western governments in Iraq and Lebanon. Under the circumstances, it is clear that there can be no American support for Israeli negotiations with Assad that would have the effect of requiring American cooperation with either side.