The situation along Israel’s northern border is a grim encapsulation of the Middle East’s enduring volatility. With the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a theatre of fractured power has emerged in Syria, bringing with it the usual cast of regional malignancies. Iran and its proxies, emboldened and entrenched, are attempting to expand their foothold; jihadist factions, opportunistic as ever, are rising from the ashes. Amidst this chaos, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Israel Air Force (IAF) have acted decisively, engaging in incursions and airstrikes to protect Israel’s borders and security interests. These actions, it must be said, are not the result of Israeli provocation but rather the inevitable response to a neighbourly inferno that threatens to engulf everything in its path.

Israel’s decision to act decisively in Syria is neither arbitrary nor avoidable. The fall of the Assad regime has not simply created a void; it has invited the worst kind of actors to fill it. On one hand, there are Iranian-backed militias and Hezbollah fighters, seeking to use southern Syria as a staging ground for operations against Israel. On the other, jihadist groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a rebranded offshoot of al-Qaeda, have seized strategic positions and, in their usual fashion, made their ambitions explicit: they are not merely interested in Syria but have openly declared their intent to "liberate" Jerusalem. For Israel, such rhetoric cannot be ignored; for any nation taking its own survival seriously, such threats would demand pre-emptive action.

The IDF has responded by conducting ground incursions into southern Syria to establish buffer zones and prevent these hostile forces from embedding themselves near the Golan Heights. This is not imperial adventurism but a necessity born of geography and geopolitics. Israel is a small country surrounded by adversaries who dream of its destruction. To allow these forces to mass on its northern frontier would be an act of suicidal negligence.

The Precision of the IAF

If the IDF’s ground operations represent the defensive bulwark, the IAF’s air operations are the scalpel. Over recent weeks, the IAF has launched strikes on weapons convoys, missile depots, and the command centres of Iranian-backed militias deep within Syria. These are not crude bombardments but meticulously planned operations aimed at degrading the enemy’s capabilities without unnecessary collateral damage. The targets are chosen carefully—those that directly support Iran’s wider strategy of regional destabilisation.

Iran’s ambitions in Syria are no secret, and since HTS made clear that the road of Jihad would go through Jerusalem, Israel has every reason to neutralise what is left of syria;’s military capabilities.

The Islamic Republic has long sought to build a land corridor stretching from Tehran to Beirut, connecting its forces and proxies across Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Syria, then, is not merely a battlefield; it is the linchpin of Iran’s grand strategy, and now that of ISIS - aka HTS.

By striking at Assad’s former assets and preventing the establishment of new supply lines, the IAF is doing more than defending Israel. It is striking a blow against a regional hegemon whose ambitions threaten not just Israel but the stability of the Middle East as a whole.

The Broader Context

The collapse of the Assad regime has implications far beyond Israel’s borders. Syria’s disintegration has created opportunities for malign actors to consolidate power, all while the international community dithers. Iran has seized the chaos to strengthen its proxies, and jihadist groups have exploited the vacuum to expand their reach. Yet amidst this chaos, the actions of the IDF and IAF stand as a rare display of clarity and purpose.

Critics, particularly in Europe, may wring their hands at what they inevitably describe as Israeli “escalation.” Such criticisms, as is so often the case, fail to grasp the realities of the region. Israel does not have the luxury of waiting for attacks to come before acting; history has made that much abundantly clear. The incursions into Syria and the precision strikes by the IAF are not acts of aggression but measures of survival.

The instability along Israel’s northern border has also exposed the duplicity of certain regional actors. Jordan, often described in the West as a key ally and bastion of moderation, has played a more questionable role in recent years. While it has relied on Western aid and diplomatic support to maintain its fragile stability, the Hashemite Kingdom has simultaneously allowed the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, including Hamas, to operate with relative impunity within its borders. This tacit tolerance has emboldened Islamist networks that now threaten to destabilise the region further.

As jihadist factions mass along its northern border, Jordan may soon find that its strategy of appeasement has been not just shortsighted but dangerously naive. For Israel, such ambivalence from a neighbour is yet another reason to act decisively. While Amman continues to hedge its bets, Israel is left to shoulder the burden of containing the chaos spilling over from Syria.

Britain’s Role

For Britain, the situation presents a moment of truth. Israel’s actions in Syria are not merely about protecting its own borders; they are part of a broader effort to counter the influence of Iran and the resurgence of jihadist extremism—both of which have direct implications for Western security. Britain, as a historic ally of Israel and a key player in the region, must stand unequivocally with the Jewish state in this moment of crisis.

To do so means more than offering diplomatic platitudes. Britain should support Israel’s defensive operations, recognising them as not just a necessity for Israel but a contribution to regional stability. The IDF’s and IAF’s efforts to dismantle Iranian networks and contain jihadist forces are, in effect, a front line in the broader struggle against the forces of extremism and chaos that threaten not only Israel but the West as a whole.

The disintegration of Syria and the rise of hostile actors along Israel’s border underscore a simple but often overlooked truth: Israel is not the source of instability in the Middle East but one of its few bulwarks against it. The IDF’s incursions and the IAF’s strikes are not the beginning of a conflict but the necessary continuation of a long-standing defence against those who would see the region plunged into even greater darkness.

For Britain and the wider West, the choice is clear. Support Israel in its efforts to maintain stability and counter malign actors, or risk seeing the region slip further into chaos. In this moment, as in so many before it, Israel’s fight is not just for its own survival but for the principles of order and security that the West claims to uphold. The time for wavering is over. Britain must act with the same clarity and purpose as Israel has shown, for the stakes are not just Israel’s—they are ours as well.