国产精品99一区二区三_免费中文日韩_国产在线精品一区二区_日本成人手机在线

News Analysis: U.S. exit from Syria may expose Israel to defense, security risks: experts

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-23 20:28:54|Editor: Shi Yinglun
Video PlayerClose

by Keren Setton

JERUSALEM, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The abrupt U.S. decision last week to withdraw all its troops from war-torn Syria has evoked warnings from Israeli officials and experts about the danger of Israel's reliance on Washington when it comes to security and defense.

The presence of an estimated 2,000 American troops in Syria was part of an effort to defeat the Islamic State (IS) militant group, a goal which U.S. President Donald Trump believes has been attained.

However, the U.S. military presence actually helped push back forces hostile to Israel, namely Iran and the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah, as both were in Syria in support of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria and Lebanon border Israel in the northern part of the country, an area where plenty of blood were shed in the past, while the leaders of Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, have been repeatedly calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.

"The U.S. absence allows Iran to freely transport weapons, soldiers or whatever else it wants, through the shortest continental path," said Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli military intelligence officer.

"There are plans to build a network of highways between Iran, Iraq and Syria and therefore a U.S. presence is very important," Zehavi told Xinhua.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has routinely said Israel will take all necessary measures to protect itself from Iran and its proxies, particularly Hezbollah.

The Israeli military recently said it had found a network of tunnels allegedly dug by Hezbollah to infiltrate northern Israel. Over the weekend, Israeli forces began destroying the tunnels.

Hezbollah has not yet to respond.

Netanyahu's government has prided itself on an excellent relationship with Trump and his administration. But clearly, the latest U.S. move does not serve the Israeli interests in the region.

The Israeli government had overestimated the importance of Israel to Trump, and the degree to which Trump was influenced by the Jewish state, said Jonathan Rynhold, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations from the Bar Ilan University.

"Clearly the Israeli government banked on the advisors and their own ability to influence Trump, but they got it wrong," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. withdrawal will, in turn, strenghthen the Russian presence in Syria, and Israel will have to deal with a recently souring relations with Russia over a diplomatic row between the two countries.

"Israel will have to act a lot more directly and that will complicate relations with Russia," Rynhold said.

"When a great power pulls out, there is then a vacuum which has to be filled and from Israel's perspective whatever goes into that vacuum is worse," he added.

Trump's policies "can be just has disruptive to Israel's national security interests," as in other cases of American foreign policy, wrote Chemi Shalev, the U.S. editor for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"Without American backing, Israel's position is weakened, as Israel ... can't fill the U.S. role in Syria. It does not have the same capabilities," Rynhold stressed.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001376937801
主站蜘蛛池模板: 盐边县| 阳山县| 龙口市| 满洲里市| 江油市| 金沙县| 外汇| 芦溪县| 清远市| 长子县| 二手房| 海晏县| 冕宁县| 商都县| 台江县| 浮梁县| 鄯善县| 马公市| 汶上县| 芦溪县| 海南省| 喜德县| 黔东| 南昌县| 滨海县| 怀宁县| 徐汇区| 罗田县| 霞浦县| 密山市| 改则县| 荔浦县| 漯河市| 塔河县| 凤翔县| 抚顺县| 宁明县| 道真| 上饶县| 青海省| 阜南县|