They’ll never say it out loud, but the Arab world is pleased with Israel’s attacks on weapons depots in Syria. Usually, it doesn’t even take an Israeli military action to elicit condemnation of Israel by Arab nations. Not this time.
Syria’s brutal repression of freedom is not to anyone’s liking, with the exceptions of the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran. Not that autocratic Arab countries have suddenly nurtured humanitarian sympathies. Rather, this: the stronger Syria is, the stronger Iran is. And Arab countries, even the largest and strongest of them, fear Iran.
By extension, the stronger Hezbollah is, the stronger Syria is. Syria covets Lebanon. Hezbollah is Syria’s surrogate in Lebanon. Hence, Israeli attacks on weapons in Syria bound for Hezbollah serve double duty, in the Arab view. And in this case, the Arab view is right. The weaker the ascending Hezbollah-Syria-Iran chain, the better the chances for peace and stability in the Middle East.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Israel cannot take care of Syria by itself. For that, President Obama will have to leave his comfort zone and impose a no-fly zone over Syria. Obama always talks about allies and coalitions and somebody else besides the US needing to give permission to, or support to, the US before it acts militarily. Well, here’s a classic case: Canvas Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar and other Arab countries. They each have their individual reasons for wanting to see the violence in Syria end. Here’s a coalition waiting to be formed, just for the asking.
Short of major military action against Syria — such as a no fly zone — look forward to one or more of the following possibilities:
• chemical weapons in the hands of Hezbollah and other terrorists, who have no qualms about using them against Americans;
• anarchy in Syria, with radical Islamic groups gaining ascendancy, happy to serve as the geographic cynosure of a terrorist arc stretching from Iran to Lebanon, and possibly encompassing Jordan, too.
• continued bloodshed in Syria, with countless more innocent victims.
• a nervous Israel on military alert, provoked by new enemies next door who, unlike the Assads, will not be content to leave Israel alone.
• increased Sunni-Shiite conflict throughout the Middle East.
So much for the US strategy on Syria of doing nothing besides humanitarian gestures; and even those half-heartedly.
The world is often not a pretty place. As Harry S Truman used to say, if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
