Iran’s influence in Syria

Occupation: Junior Research Fellow
Affiliation: Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Journal name

Asia and Africa Today

Edition

Issue 8

Pages

21-27

Abstract

The article focuses on the reasons for the strengthening of Iranian positions in the Syrian Arab Republic since the beginning of the events of the «Arab spring» to the present time. In the analysis, it was found out that the preservation of the state integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic is one of the most important tasks in the foreign policy strategy of the Iranian leadership. Tehran has provided active financial, military and logistical assistance to the Syrian leadership, because Syria is a link in relations between Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, The Syrian state, where the Alawite minority has greater political weight than the Sunni majority, is of great interest to Iran and is the first Arab government with which the Islamic Republic had been able to establish close relations on a religious basis before the war in Iraq and the consolidation of Hezbollah’s political power in the Lebanese government. The leading role in the preservation of the Assad regime has been played by the armed forces of Iran, which conducted quite active hostilities together with government troops. Tehran relied on the fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, as well as mobilized loyal to the Iranian leadership groups of Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani Shia, who had shown their effectiveness in the Syrian theater of operations. The formation of Pro-Iranian Shia supported by Iran, has played an important role in the preservation of the Assad regime. In general, Iran, through a number of factors, has managed to seriously strengthen its positions in the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as to ensure the integrity of the strategic political axis Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hezbollah.

Keywords

Iran, Islamism, Syria, Islamist project, alawites, Hezbollah, Shiites, Assad

Publication date

10.08.2019

Number of characters

24972

Cite

GOST	Khairullin T. Iran’s influence in Syria // Asia and Africa Today – 2019. – Issue 8 C. 21-27 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750005772-1-1 (circulation date: 25.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005772-1
MLA	Khairullin, Timur R "Iran’s influence in Syria." Asia and Africa Today 8 (2019):21-27. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005772-1
APA	Khairullin T. (2019). Iran’s influence in Syria. Asia and Africa Today (8), pp.21-27 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750005772-1

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