ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 analyses the relationship between Syria and Iran. The alliance between the Ba’thist regime and the Islamic (Shia and Persian) republic has been one of the longest and most stable in regional politics. The alliance between Ba’thist Syria and the (Persian and Shia) Islamic republic is very much a triumph of realpolitik over ideology. The first opening towards Iran happened in the aftermath of the 1973 war when the new Syrian leadership hoped to use the Shah’s relationship with the United States to its advantage. It was, however, only with the 1979 Iranian revolution that the Syrian regime was able to establish a partnership with Iran. With the start of the Iran-Iraq conflict, the Syrian leadership bet on the Iranian’s regime survival in face of Saddam Hussein’s attack. The long conflict created deep divisions within the Arab world, but also resulted in a strengthening of the Syrian-Iranian alliance.
