WSJ: Assad regime has informed Iran of its unwillingness to be dragged into the war
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted Assad regime official and EU security official as saying that the Assad regime informed Iran that it does not want to be dragged into a war, confirming there are disputes inside the “axis of resistance” over the response to the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran due to differences in interests.
The Wall Street Journal’s sources made it clear that Assad regime’s unwillingness to be dragged into a large-scale war comes amid an economic crisis and indignation among big segments of Syrians which triggers fears by Bashar al-Assad that the full-scale war could exacerbate the crisis.
A professor specializing in Iranian affairs at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa said: “Iran’s doctrine is based on pushing tensions away from its borders, with the aim of containing violence and exhausting its opponents, but at the same time avoiding the large-scale war.”
Chatham House researcher Haid Haid expected that Bashar al-Assad would avoid playing any role on the front lines in the event of a war breaking out between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon, suggesting that the Assad regime would facilitate Iranian military support for the party.
Haid believed in an article in “Al-Majalla” magazine that Bashar al-Assad may maintain a position of “neutrality” as he did during the conflict in Gaza, which was pushed to it by factors such as depleted military capacity, a faltering economy, fear of Israel’s retaliatory responses, and his tense relations with the Palestinian Hamas movement.
