In October 2015, a former US state department official revealed that Syria and Israel had
come close to brokering a peace deal in 2011, which some say could have averted the Syrian
Civil War.
But as Israel was unwilling to relinquish disputed territory, and Syria didn’t want
to lose Iran as an ally, the deal never materialized.
For decades the two countries have been in physical and ideological conflict.
So we wanted to know, why do Israel and Syria hate each other?
Well, historically, the two have been fighting, since before they became sovereign nations.
Like many other Arab countries, the creation of an Israeli state was extremely opposed,
and the incoming Jews were considered invaders.
Still, Britain, which controlled the area where today Israel and Palestine exist, allowed
for its creation.
Within a day of announcing independence, Israel was invaded by Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian,
and Lebanese forces.
After 10 months, Israel won the First Arab–Israeli War.
From then on, the two countries have refused to enter into diplomatic relations.
Like many neighboring countries, Syria does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty.
In fact, when Israel applied to join the UN in 1948, Syria represented the only negative
vote.
They argued that Israel did not have the undisputed territory, nor the elected government, to
establish a state.
But although they have seen almost nonstop hostility, one interesting time period almost
saw peace between the two.
Following the Arab-Israeli war, Syria went through a bloodless coup d’etat, secretly
guided by the United States.
The new leader offered a peace solution to Israel, but roughly 4 months after taking
office, the Syrian government was again overthrown and the peace-seeking president was executed.
However, the most direct contact between the two countries occurred during the 1967 Six-Day
War.
The war saw Israel annex the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Golan Heights from Egypt, Jordan,
and Syria respectively.
Since the war, most efforts in Syrian-Israeli relations have been focused on returning Golan
Heights in exchange for ceasing Syrian belligerence.
However, six years after the Six-Day War, Egypt and Syria invaded their former territories
in Israel in an effort to recapture them.
Although Egypt made some gains, Syria saw Israeli troops push even farther into Syria,
past Golan Heights borders.
Although Egypt and Israel eventually came to a peaceful accord, Syria was thrown into
a state of chaos.
In the 1980s, while Israel was at war with Lebanon over the Palestinian Liberation Organization,
Syria attempted to send in troops but was unsuccessful.
A second war with Lebanon in 2006 over Hezbollah saw a similar situation, with Syria sending
weapons to the terrorist organization.
Today, the Syrian Civil War has only seen a few of what Israel has called “retaliatory
airstrikes”.
As of yet, they have made no moves to enter into the Syrian conflict.
While Syria is being ripped into pieces, there is no way of knowing how the future regional
government will interact with Israel.
But history suggests that it won’t be peacefully.
Syria’s not a lone ranger in the Middle East when it comes to conflict with Israel.
To learn about why Israel and Iran hate each other, check out our video.
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