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Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralized, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey\u2019s growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts said.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s often fraught ties with Israel have come under severe strain during the Gaza war and Israeli officials have told Washington that Syria\u2019s new Islamist rulers, who are backed by Ankara, pose a threat to Israel, the sources said, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
The lobbying points to a concerted Israeli campaign to influence US policy at a critical juncture for Syria, as the Islamists who ousted Bashar al-Assad try to stabilize the fractured state and get Washington to lift punishing sanctions.<\/p>\n
Israel communicated its views to top US officials during meetings in Washington in February and subsequent meetings in Israel with US Congressional representatives, three US sources and another person familiar with the contacts said.<\/p>\n
The main points were also circulated to some senior US officials in an Israeli \u201cwhite paper\u201d, two of the sources said.<\/p>\n
All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to diplomatic sensitivities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael\u2019s big fear is that Turkey comes in and protects this new Syrian Islamist order, which then ends up being a base for Hamas and other militants,\u201d said Aron Lund, a fellow at US-based think-tank Century International.<\/p>\n
The US State Department and National Security Council did not provide a response to questions for this story. The office of Israel\u2019s prime minister and the foreign ministries in Syria and Turkey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
It was not clear to what extent US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is considering adopting Israel\u2019s proposals, the sources said. It has said little about Syria, leaving uncertainty over both the future of the sanctions and whether US forces deployed in the northeast will remain.<\/p>\n
Lund said Israel had a good chance of influencing US thinking, describing the new administration as wildly pro-Israeli. \u201cSyria is barely even on Trump\u2019s radar now. It\u2019s low priority, and there\u2019s a policy void to fill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Israel has publicly declared its mistrust of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist faction that led the campaign that toppled Assad and which emerged from a group that was affiliated to al Qaeda until it cut ties in 2016.<\/p>\n
Now, Israel is deeply concerned about Turkey’s role as a close ally of Syria’s new rulers, three US sources said, describing the messages delivered by Israeli officials.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n