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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Turkey in the Syrian-Lebanese Arena: The Implications of Turkish Support for Hezbollah (and Iran)

2026-06-25

By Dr. Zoe Levornik

[ISRAEL-ALMA.ORG] Turkey in the Syrian-Lebanese Arena: The Implications of Turkish Support for Hezbollah on Israel’s Strategic Environment

Hamas and Hezbollah, plus of course, their domestic branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. All in all, it’s just pet jihadis all around them. Goody.

In a video published by Al Mayadeen and translated by MEMRI, Lebanese Hezbollah parliament member Ali Fayyad quoted Turkey’s ambassador to Lebanon as stating that Ankara supports Hezbollah’s “resistance role” in Lebanon and that Syria will not yield to American and Israeli pressure to act against the organization.

Eh? Syria has been proudly announcing intercepted arms shipments from Iran across their border to Hezbollah in Lebanon. What happened to change that?

If these statements indeed reflect Turkey’s position, they provide an important glimpse into how Ankara is seeking to shape the Syrian-Lebanese arena following the fall of the Assad regime, while maintaining channels of influence with all anti-Israeli actors in the region.

At first glance, this appears to be a paradox. For years, Turkey was one of the principal supporters of the Sunni Syrian opposition, while Hezbollah served as one of the main military pillars of the Assad regime

…secular (Baathist-Arab National Socialist) Alawite Shiites beholden to the Mad Mullahs of Iran…

and the Iranian axis in Syria. During the Syrian civil war, the two sides stood in opposing camps and even fought each other indirectly.

However, regional developments in recent years indicate that, from Ankara’s perspective, rivalry with Iran or Hezbollah is not absolute.

As ‘tis said, “Me and my brother against my cousin, me and my cousin against the infidels”…

Turkey seeks to establish itself as a leading regional power,

…neo-Ottoman sultanate, bay-bee!

expand its influence in Syria and Lebanon, and prevent the emergence of a regional order that would marginalize it. In this context, maintaining ties with Hezbollah provides Ankara with additional levers of influence in Lebanon and allows it to present itself as a central actor in the regional arena.

If Hamas can take Iranian money, training, and supplies, Hezbollah can go the other way, it appears.

This means that ideological contradictions are sometimes set aside when there is a shared strategic objective and interest: containing Israel and reducing its regional influence. Despite their historical rivalry in Syria, Turkey and Hezbollah have found themselves on the same side when it comes to opposing Israeli policies and supporting the Palestinian cause.

The enemy of my enemy. How unoriginal.

In the Syrian context, Turkey remains the principal patron of the new order emerging in the country. Nevertheless, it is not necessarily interested in a direct confrontation between the new regime and Hezbollah, which could undermine stability and expand the circles of friction across the region. Hezbollah official Ali Fayyad’s statement that Turkey opposes pressure on Damascus to act against Hezbollah reflects this approach of managing a balance of power rather than pursuing a decisive outcome.

President Trump’s team has interesting balance of forces stuff to ponder.

More at the link

It could have been worse. Imagine if Turkey had formally allied with Iran:

Trump claims he stopped ‘great leader’ Erdogan from bringing Turkey into Iran war

[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump praises Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, claiming he was a prime candidate to enter the war on the side of Iran because he doesn’t like Israel.

“He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran — maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump claims, even though Turkey gave no indication that it was preparing to enter the war on the side of Iran, and even came under Iranian fire at one point.

“I asked him to stay out. He stayed out,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

“Erdogan is a great leader, a very strong person… Everything I’ve ever asked from him, he’s done.”

Amid reports that the US is readying for a major weapons sale to Turkey, Trump is asked whether he’s preparing a major “gift bag,” including F35 fighter jets for Ankara.

“I think so, look… I’m going to probably do something that’s going to make him very happy,” Trump says.

Pressed on what specifically needs to happen for the F35 sale to go through, Trump punts the question to Vice President JD Vance.

“There are certain things that we have to certify that have happened in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that… so they can get the F35s… This is really a congressional thing,” Vance says before Trump chimes in, insisting that the issue will be sorted out.

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