ABSTRACT
The alliance between Iran and Syria has been one of significant durability and stability, and one that has generated considerable strategic and political returns for both countries. The Syrian uprising of 2011 and subsequent civil war became the most significant strategic and political challenge for the Iranian-led ‘Axis of Resistance’ since its inception. Iran and Hizbullah’s initial approach to defeating the insurgency was to identify, organise and direct the array of local communal self-defence militias that had sprung up across Syria. Achieving territorial continuity from Iran to Lebanon has always been an aspiration for Tehran and Hizbullah, though not an active pursuit nor, for decades, a priority. Both militias have nominally maintained their base in the district of Sayyida Zainab, south of the Syrian capital of Damascus, where Shia shrines are located and in close proximity to the Damascus civilian and military airports. Hizbullah’s military intervention in Syria has transformed the militant organisation.
