By Athena Papakosta

The (new) explosion of conflicts in Syria raises fears of yet another violent and destabilizing front in Middle Eastwhere the prospect of a major regional war still hangs in the balance due to the ongoing war in Gauze between Israel and Hamas. Additional risk? Russia and Turkey, two powers with completely different interests in Syria, to face each other.

Last Wednesday the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS), as well as allied factions supported by Turkey, launched a surprise attack on areas controlled by his regime Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria.

The timing is unfortunate to say the least, but not accidental. No, just because the raid by jihadists and rebels coincided with the first day of a ceasefire between Israel and a weakened Hezbollah in Lebanon, but because Assad’s allies, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, are “busy” with their own conflicts with Ukraine and Israel, respectively. At the same time, the fact that, in recent months, Israel has been striking Iranian targets in Syria has also contributed to the decision of jihadists and rebels in Idlib to launch an attack.

Right now, Syria’s second largest urban center, the city of Aleppo, is, for the first time since 2016, under the control of jihadists and rebels. As well as the city of Tal Rifat, located further north, but also the city of Idlib, a stronghold of the jihadists, which is a few kilometers south of Aleppo. The rebels, however, claim that Hama, the next major city on the march of HTS jihadists towards Damascus, has also “fallen” – information which, so far, has not been confirmed by an independent source.

The resurgence of conflict in Syria is causing global alarm. The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Gjar Pedersen, stressed that the developments pose a threat to regional security and called on the belligerents of the Syrian war, as well as the states involved, to engage in negotiations.

At the same time, the United States, which maintains 900 troops in northeastern Syria, emphasizes that it is closely monitoring the developments, with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking to the American network CNN, adding that “we do not regret the fact that the Assad government, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, is under pressure.”

In the previous decade, Syria was plunged into a civil war, during which, as the British BBC writes, Bashar al-Assad proved … prepared to tear the country apart in order to save the regime he inherited from his father. On his side were Russia, Iran and the Tehran-backed Shiite organization Hezbollah. Now the nightmare is waking up again.

The Russian air force is striking from the air in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, while according to a statement from the Syrian president’s office, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghtsi, during his visit to Damascus on Sunday, assured Bashar al-Assad that Tehran is ready to support the Syrian government in its counter-offensive. At the same time, leaders of the Arab world, such as King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, contacted the Syrian president by phone to express their solidarity.

The Iranian foreign minister is already in Turkey, which remains powerful in northern Syria by controlling the border and supplying military factions in the region. In recent months, the Turkish president sought a rapprochement with his Syrian counterpart. Assad, however, keeps the door closed by calling on the Turkish armed forces to withdraw from Syrian territory.

Aragkatsi will meet with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. He has already spoken by phone with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and, according to the announcement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, they agreed on the need to intensify joint efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation.