Media: Assad provided Israel with intelligence on Iran, Hezbollah

Syrian journalist Rida al-Bash has claimed that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has, for years, supplied Israel with intelligence on the activities of Iran and Hezbollah operating in Syria. Al-Bash, who previously worked within a media network closely linked to Assad’s inner circle, made the revelations in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

According to al-Bash, the Syrian leadership initially responded to the 2011 protests with a forceful crackdown, triggering the escalation that led to full-scale civil war. She highlighted the role of Iran, stating that Tehran directly intervened in the conflict in 2013 and that Assad even considered abandoning Damascus during that period.

Al-Bash identifies the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani as a turning point. She claims that after the killing, Assad began deliberately restricting the influence of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria, including collecting detailed intelligence on their forces, properties, and logistics.

According to her, this information later served as the basis for targeted strikes, with Syria itself, rather than an external actor, being the primary source of intelligence for Israel.

The journalist also alleges that Damascus has imposed limits on weapons transit to Hezbollah and that some high-profile assassinations attributed to external actors may have benefited Assad personally.

Looking at more recent years, al-Bash claims that in 2022, leaders of the so-called “axis of resistance” anticipated a large-scale war involving Israel, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, and Assad initially promised to open an additional front from Syrian territory. However, she says that in 2024, Assad reversed these commitments, preventing hostilities on the Syrian front—a move that reportedly weakened Hezbollah’s strategic position.

By Sabina Mammadli