WI: Syria joins Iran in Iran-Iraq War?

[Ismail]

During the war IRL Syria diplomatically sided with Iran, and when the Gulf War happened Syria sent troops to contribute against Iraq.

The only big issue I could see for Syria is that it would allow domestic troubles (e.g. discontented Sunni Arabs) to rise up and rebel.

[Nassirisimo]

Well, Syria would have to be pretty sure about an Iranian victory if they were going to join, as they would earn the enmity of a lot of the Arab world and would want to make sure that the gains they would achieve from the war would outweigh that. This is difficult, since at first, many assumed that Iraq's relatively modernized army could roll over the Iranians who were still in disarray from the revolution.

There isn't a huge amount that the Syrians could bring to the war, as the Syrian army was just terrible. However, they would bring in a second front, which is always useful, if only to distract Iraqi troops away from the Iranians.

[Cook]

The Syrians were tied down in Lebanon at the time, which is of far greater concern to Syrian leadership than the Western Desert of Iraq. Troops going into Iraq are troops that won’t be available for Lebanon so Syria is going to do worse there.

[Grumpy young Man]

1) USA and SU if anything shared a common belief that Iran's revolution must be contained, although not by all means, since it was still considered a proxy war. Their non intervention policies would still be in place and all those supplying schemes they pulled off for both sides would probably be diverted to Iraq.

2) Israel's chief adversary in those days was Saddam and therefore they gave their support to Iran, although they both deny it today. Syrian entry in the war on the Iranian side would probably mean sharp decline of Israel's support.

3) Saudi Arabia would veto every step of Iran in the OPEC organization, she would do her best to keep the oil prices as low as possible so Iran would get as little profit as it could.

4) Even bigger upsurge of foreign fighters for Iraq from Sunni states.

5) I'm sure Turkey wouldn't just remain quiet but I can't guess what would she do in this case of a wider regional war except keeping sure that Worker's Party of Kurdistan does not get its hopes up.

[aktarian]

They'd be idiots to do it. LCW was flaring up, as did Israeli involvement in it. Opening another front would be suicidal for them.

[Blackfox5]

Iraq was being supported by practically every Sunni power in the Middle East against Iran. Syrian involvement in the war would escalate this into a major crisis. The Gulf monarchies don't have much manpower, but they could contribute something. Jordan and Egypt may also get involved if needed. This does not mean direct involvement as a belligerent, but there will be some sort of response. They are not going to let Iraq collapse so that Iranian Shiites can win.

The US will also not stand still. The US did not like either Iraq or Iran (or Syria), but was more anti-Iranian. They will work to compensate Iraq somehow so that Syria's involvement is countermanded.

A major Middle Eastern war of this will be extremely worrisome because of potential threats to the world oil supply and the politics of the Cold War. There will be a lot of diplomatic pressure to resolve it before more countries become involved.

If it does not, I expect the Gulf monarchies send huge amounts of money to Iraq so that it can fight with an effective blank check. All Sunni countries will be sending military intelligence reports to Iraq on Syrian troop movements, along with US and perhaps even Israeli intelligence clandestinely. There may not be organized ground troops sent to Iraq to help, but there would be close military cooperation. It's possible that clandestinely air force squadrons might be sent to enable Iraqi air supremacy over the Syrians.

No one really trusts Saddam Hussein, but no one wants an Iranian or Syrian victory. A prolonged war that saps everyone's strength is in everyone's best interests outside the actual participants.

[Ismail]

I suppose if Syria really looks like a threat then Turkey might intervene on behalf of NATO.