Since the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December, Arab and regional fears and focus have largely flitted between two issues. There are those who continue sounding the alarm over an Iranian agenda which they say won’t be curbed, nor its bitter defeat in Syria accepted. Those preoccupied with this scenario warn that Iran will keep seeking to foment internal chaos and exploit sectarian divides in the country.
The other main focus is the Turkish agenda – many Arab states still view Turkey as the main sponsor of political Islam and its movements in the region – not just in Syria. This viewpoint continues to dominate in some quarters despite significant shifts (or rather fluctuations) in Turkey’s regional policies.
However, there is no real or comparable sense of apprehension across the region regarding the agenda of Israel’s far-right rulers and their vision for the “new Syria“—or, to be more precise their vision for the major geopolitical shift they seek to impose across the whole region. …..more
