BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Ahed Badawi lived for more than a decade in Bahrain, a small Gulf country that — unlike her native Syria — rarely made headlines.

It provided a refuge for her, her sister and their elderly mother during Syria’s 14 years of civil war.

“Nothing at all ever happened there,” she said. “I mean, the Bahrainis don’t even know what war is.”

But after the US and Israel attacked Iran, sparking a regional war, Bahrain and neighboring Gulf countries found themselves in Iran’s crosshairs. So the family fled back to their home in Aleppo, which was once the site of some of the civil war’s fiercest battles but now offered a safe haven.

War-battered Syria has stood out as one of the few spots of calm in the region’s latest conflagration. Its leaders have been working to rebuild relations with Arab and Western countries that had shunned Syria under former president Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December 2024 by rebels, who then installed a new government.

Since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28 and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Damascus has seized on the opportunity to strengthen those relationships by staying neutral.

Syria has “presented itself as the solution to strategic crises in the region,” said Obayda Ghadban, an official with the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Syria positions itself as a safe corridor

After the US-Israeli attacks, Iran rained missiles not only on Israel but on Gulf countries hosting US bases. In Lebanon, the dormant war between Israel and Hezbollah reignited as the Iran-backed terror group began firing rockets over the border. And Iraq — which is home to both Iran-backed militias and US bases — found itself in the crosshairs of both sides.

Despite missiles flying overhead — and occasionally falling on Syrian territory — Syria managed to stay on the sidelines and positioned itself as an alternative transport route for oil exports that could no longer be sent through the strait.

“Syria, which was once an arena for others’ conflicts, has today chosen, through the will of its people and........

© The Times of Israel