Iran Loses Regional Ally, U.S. Colleges Prepare For Trump, Drone Sightings
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The fall of Syria's ruler is a blow against Iran.
Iranian money and troops propped up the old Syrian leaders, so how much does his government's collapse set back an adversary of Israel and the United States?
I'm E. Martinez, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Some American colleges have a warning for their international students. They're suggesting students who leave for the holidays should try to return before Inauguration Day to avoid any trouble at the border. How real is that concern?
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The fall of Syria's longtime president prompted celebrations by many of its people. It's safe to say the same event led to dismay in the capital of Iran.
Yeah, that's because the longtime enemy of Israel in the U.S. relied on Syria as one of its allies in a bid for power across the Middle East. Iranian troops and money propped up the ruler Bashar al-Assad during years of civil war. Now, if you look at a map... You can actually see why. Syria offered a connection to Iran's proxies in nearby Lebanon. Now the government's collapse amounts to Iran's latest disaster.
NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam covers Iran. Hey there, Jackie. Good morning, Steve. How did the Iranians use the old Syrian government?
Well, the most important way that it used it is Syria allowed Iran to set up a critical land bridge to Lebanon, so a corridor to Lebanon, so it could funnel weapons to Hezbollah for many years. You know, this was crucial to get fighters, weapons going both ways, actually. But now that the anti-government rebels control Syria, That strategic route to Lebanon is really most likely off-limits to Iran, and that's a huge blow for the regime's long-term goals in the region.
What were or are the regime's long-term goals exactly?
Well, there are two key ones. They want to see the destruction or the collapse of Israel as a Jewish state. Iran also wants to counter any power influence that the U.S. has in the Middle East, you know, at the same time projecting the regime's own power in the region using its military and proxies, you know, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and certainly the Houthis in Yemen.
Oh, which underlines how disastrous the last few months have been for Iran because Hezbollah has been decimated by Israel's military. This is just a moment when you would think Iran would want to be resupplying Hezbollah. I guess that's not going to happen.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You know, this is just really going to make it much, much harder to get, you know, missiles and drones and the like to Hezbollah in Lebanon if this corridor is out of reach now. But, you know, Steve, this isn't the only setback that Iran has faced recently. I spoke with Afshan Ostavar, and he's a specialist on Iran and its proxies at the Naval Postgraduate School.
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