Preparations are underway for the establishment of a new US air base in Damascus, Syria, anonymised security sources told Reuters. A demilitarised zone in southern Syria will house the outpost. This includes logistical planning, namely reconnaissance and flight path testing.

The bid, previously unheard of, signals an unyielding push by Washington to normalise Israeli-Syrian relations. Of course, genocidal Israel are desperate to make inroads with any possible diplomatic connections which will retrospectively whitewash their war crimes. The development comes at a critical juncture for Syria’s new government.

Their survival will ultimately rest on political endorsement from the US, and, not least, Israel.

US airbase: securing peace through strength

As close allies the US and Israel can arguably be seen to share the same objectives in terms of geopolitical power. Iran’s opposition to both the US and Isreal has presented a significant challenge for American influence in the region. As such, Syria holds a precarious position in this grapple for power. The broader and no-longer-secret objective of Israel is stifling opposition from Arab states to Israel’s military belligerence and interventionism.

The US official discourse implies a US air base will expedite a Trump-brokered security pact between Syria and Israel, which, according to pundits, is reachable by the end of 2025. Of course, peace through force will be anything but long lasting in light of Israel’s nauseating catalogue of war crimes perpetrated in Gaza and the lessons of the region’s not-so-historical past; namely the Anglo-US war on Iraq.

The base will reinforce Trump’s commitment to an ‘Israel first’ policy, and does seemingly less to fulfil his ‘make Syria great‘ pledge. In February 2025, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa ruled that any future US troop deployment will require government approval. Their foremost priority, for now, remains economic recovery and the cessation of sanctions, a pledge Trump has honoured.

The strategic prize of southern Syria

In terms of geography, the Syrian Golan Heights, located in southern Syria, is the strategic prize that will allow Israel to intercept attacks targeting it northern territories.

Before al-Sharaa seized power, the south was awash with Russian forces and Iran-backed militia. In August, Russian outlet, Kommersant, citing anonymised sources, reported that al-Sharaa’s administration favoured the presence of Russian forces as a bulwark against Israeli advances. Russian troops, as of yet, have been given precedence.

The Syrian administration’s strategy for now is concerned with economic growth and integration into the global market, twin objectives which require US endorsement. Trump and al-Sharaa are scheduled to meet at the White House on Monday — the first visit of its kind since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad regime last year — and enhanced security cooperation will undoubtedly top the agenda.

Israel’s Mediterranean ambitions

As the US visibly embeds itself in Syria, Israel, as Robert Freedman reported for the Canary, is unabashedly extending its economic and military reach in Cyprus – notably backed by Britain. Alongside, Greece, Cyprus is part of an energy alliance whose success would lay the groundwork for future normalisation between Israel and Turkey. Nevertheless, Cyprus has been critical to Israel’s encroachment into the eastern Mediterranean. Speaking on this, Freedman wrote:

The genocide economy is set to get a big boost, with British-based energy firm Energean preparing to construct a pipeline that would see gas pumped to Cyprus from an offshore rig in stolen maritime territory in Palestine.

Israel’s attempts to normalise relations along the east Mediterranean are an alarming breach beyond its efforts with Arab states. The timing for Israel is critical as it sets out to capitalise on political turmoil in the region, a weakened Hezbollah, Hamas, and a defeated government in Iran with no appetite for sabre-rattling with Israel following their ‘12 day war’ with Israel and October 7. The codependency between Israel and US, as the Canary’s Ed Sykes reports, is built on:

the separation of Arab territories … to ensure that a chunk of the region’s precious natural resources remained in friendly hands, and those that didn’t could become the target of covert or overt hostility.

Strike while the iron is hot

As the threat of war looms, particularly after Israel’s continued aerial strikes on Lebanon, the amplification of the Zionist military presence in Syria sets the tone for the future direction of US foreign policy in the Middle East.

The push for normalisation with Israel is evidently part of a broader regional trend. Historically normalisation was limited to countries that form the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC). Now, however, the strategy has extended to post-conflict states caught between a rock and a hard place.

Stiff resistance remains. This is best demonstrated by the legislation passed by the Iraqi parliament in mid-2022, criminalising the normalisation of ties with Israel.

Although the war against the Islamic State provided legal cover for the presence of US soldiers in northeastern Syria since 2014. The latest advance, though still underway, disguises war posturing as peacekeeping.

Featured image via the Canary

By Nazli Tarzi

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