CFR Top of the Agenda 8/21 Israel Carries Out Air Strikes in Syria

TOP OF THE AGENDA Israel Carries Out Air Strikes in Syria Israel carried out airstrikes in Syria on Friday, a day after four rockets fired from Syrian territory struck northern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the rockets were fired under orders from Iran (Haaretz). The news comes as U.S. President Barack Obama is lobbying Congress to support the nuclear deal struck between Iran and major powers, with pledges to boost military assistance to Israel and Persian Gulf allies (NYT). Meanwhile, UK foreign secretary Philip Hammond will travel to Tehran on Sunday to reopen the UK embassy after a four-year closure (Guardian).

ANALYSIS "The viability of this deal rests not so much on technical formulations but on something as ephemeral as hope: the hope that once the deal’s essential restrictions fade in a decade, Iran will have been transformed into a responsible member of the global society; the hope that with the passage of time, the theocratic state will shed its revolutionary attire and become a reliable member of the international community," writes CFR’s Ray Takeyh in the Washington Post. "Previous cross-border fire has frequently been attributed to spillover from fighting inside Syria and to Islamist rebels holding ground close to the Israeli-held sector of the strategic Golan. There has not been rocket fire from Syria at the Galilee for a long time, perhaps since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli media reported, and analysts said it was a potential game-changer," reports Al-Monitor. "Netanyahu is going for a twofer—if he loses on the veto-proof super majority in Congress, he can still succeed in keeping the Iran deal politically controversial and fragile and prevent any further détente with Iran. The hope, in this case, is that the next U.S. administration can resume the status quo ante in January 2017," writes Daniel Levy in Foreign Affairs.