Weakening of Iran Seen Leading to Possible Peace Between Israel and Two Longtime Enemies, Syria and Lebanon

As President Trump prepares to host Prime Minister Netanyahu, Washington and Jerusalem are abuzz over the prospect of peace between Israel and its northern neighbors, Syria and Lebanon, which for decades have been the Jewish state’s most formidable enemies. As the Iranian regime is losing much of its stranglehold over Damascus and Beirut, Mr. Netanyahu will reportedly visit the White House next Monday, raising expectations that rather than merely glowing in their joint strikes against Iran the two leaders might announce progress on ending the Gaza war — or on widening the Abraham Accords. Since he took office, one of Mr. Trump’s priorities has been ending “the brutal war in Gaza,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said. She also noted that Mr. Trump on Monday signed an executive order to end most sanctions that have been levied on Syria since 1979. Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has gained the trust of Arab leaders since he overthrew Bashar Assad in December. Mr. Trump met him while visiting Saudi Arabia in May. A former leader of the Syrian offshoots of Al Qaeda and ISIS, the president, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Al Joulani, is now reportedly willing to cede the Golan Heights to Israel in a peace agreement. Regaining control of the plateau has long been a hard Syrian demand. “If he’s indeed ready to normalize relations even as Israel retains the Golan, that would be a great achievement,” the founder of the northern Israel-based Alma research center, Sarit Zehavi, tells the Sun. “Let’s be careful, though. Sure, we don’t want to reject a hand that’s extended in peace, but we also can’t assume we’re dealing with a great Zionist.”Mr. Al-Sharaa might hope for American help in rehabilitating Syria’s hard-hit economy. Beyond sanctions removal, he might have been eyeing Arab countries that sign peace treaties with Israel: As part of a 1979 peace deal, Egypt is receiving $1.3 billion annually in civilian and military aid; Jordan, which made peace in 1994, gets $1.72 billion a year. Initially leery of Mr. Sharaa, Jerusalem now seems to be warming up to him. “We have an interest in adding countries, Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests,” the foreign minister, Gideon Saar, told reporters Monday. Until recently Mr. Saar was one of Mr. Sharaa’s harshest critics in Israel. “This weekend, the masks came off,” he said in March. “Al-Jolani’s men mercilessly massacred their own people, the citizens of the so-called ‘New Syria.’” On Monday, Mr. Saar said that in any agreement with Syria, Israel must maintain control over the Golan Heights, which Israel annexed after capturing it in 1967. President Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty there.Since the Assad regime was overthrown in December, Israel has captured additional areas east of the Golan, including the strategic Hermon mountain summit that overlooks vast areas of Syria. The fate of those areas will be part of negotiations, which might lead to interim agreements before formal peace can be concluded — perhaps not before the end of 2025. “In Al Qaeda’s ideology, the Golan isn’t the issue, but the mere existence of Israel,” Ms. Zghavi says. “And the question remains: Even if Joulani seeks peace, do his affiliated jihadist militias want it too? I’m not sure of his ability to control them.”Yet, the weakness of the Islamic Republic is raising American and Israelis hopes. “What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say, ‘Time out. Let’s create a new road,’” the American ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who is deeply involved in mediating Jerusalem-Damascus negotiations, told a Turkish news agency, Anadolu, on Monday. “The Middle East is ready to have a new dialogue.”Even Beirut might join that dialogue, some dare to hope. Lebanon-based Hezbollah, formerly the strongest Iranian proxy army, has been weakened significantly. Earlier this month, as Israel and America struck Iran’s nuclear facilities, Hezbollah kept quiet rather than aid its Tehran benefactors. Beirut politicians increasingly demand the terrorist group be disarmed in accordance with United Nations resolutions and American demands. The Lebanese army “has so far dismantled more than 500 military positions and arms depots” at Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in a mid-June televised address.Normalizing relations with Lebanon, though, “is more complicated than with Syria,” Ms. Zhavi says. “Beirut has a long way to go before it disarms Hezbollah.”

Weakening of Iran Seen Leading to Possible Peace Between Israel and Two Longtime Enemies, Syria and Lebanon

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