Syria hasn’t been intact since its civil war began in 2011 when dictator Bashar al-Assad, with Russian help, destroyed cities, killed civilians, and then drove tens of millions of Syrians into exile. Since then, Moscow and Tehran have propped him up, but the nation is an impoverished patchwork quilt of areas controlled by Russians, Turks, Iranians, Islamists, and U.S.-backed Kurds. However, on November 26, Syrian insurgents backed by Turkey and former Al-Qaeda fighters re-ignited the civil war by mounting a lightning and surprise offensive. They quickly destroyed Russian and Syrian forces and captured Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo. Now, there are concerns that the uprising endangers Israel and the entire region. Haaretz wrote: “Israel is worried that the Syrian rebels or the Iranian militias operating in the country could gain access to [al-Assad’s stockpile of] sensitive weaponry, including missiles and chemical weapons, that poses a significant threat to Israel.”
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