Bear with me folks. It is going to be Syria, Syria for a little bit more. The fat lady will not be singing in this one for some time yet.
In this map below here blue is Israel, the lighter brown is Syria, pinkish is Iraq and dark brown is Iran. The blue arrows show a shorter and more direct flight path from Israel (blue) to Iran (dark brown).
Since all of Syria's defense systems have been destroyed (air defenses, missiles, radars, airforce, navy) and Iranian radars and air defenses have also been destroyed it presents Israel a newer and much shorter air route to attack Iran - which may happen after January 20th 2025. The Israelis can fly right across Syria, over Iraq and into Teheran. It is possible that the Israeli stealth planes may have already flown recon missions using this new route.
Below here is a map of the Golan Heights and the security buffer zone (blue colour) between the Israeli side of the Golan Heights and Syria. Since December 8th 2024 (the day Syria fell), this blue coloured security buffer zone has been fully occupied by Israel. It is going to be a long time before they hand it back. Mount Hermon is now fully occupied by Israel and from the top of this mountain Damascus is visible in the distance (46 km).
However from the town of Qatana (which is at the edge of the security buffer zone) the distance to Damascus is only 26 km. The Israelis have 155mm artillery (like their Roem/Sigma self-propelled howitzer below) which have a range of 40 km.
This means that the Syrian capital of Damascus is now within range of Israeli artillery perched on the slopes of Mount Hermon. Whoever rules Syria will find it very risky to provoke Israel.
Iran is the big loser. There is intense debate going on inside Iran asking how and why Syria collapsed and Iran was kicked out of Syria in something like 24 hours? The Iranian ambassador plus some IRGC generals based in Syria had to evacuate Damascus by the skin of their teeth.
Iran has completely lost Hezbollah plus Lebanon and now Syria. Here is a sketch capturing Iran's foolish travails.
