Israel Now on Anti-Assad Bandwagon « Commentary Magazine

Israel Now on Anti-Assad Bandwagon « Commentary Magazine

clip from article:

Bashar Assad​ just lost another major ally. No, not Iran: Tehran is still the regime’s staunch backer–the only one it has left. No, not Turkey: Ankara turned against Assad weeks ago. And not Hamas: It too has already abandoned Assad. The latest government to join the anti-Assad caucus? Israel.

At first glance, this may seem like a surprising defection. Who would ever have expected Israel to be a supporter of Assad in the first place? Syria under the Assads (father and son) fought Israel in 1972 and 1982–and those were just the overt wars. Syria has also been a major source of surreptitious support to anti-Israel terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet all the while, Israeli officials quietly supported the Assads–or at least did not try to topple them–on the “better the devil you know” theory. Now that’s changed, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak telling reporters that Assad is finished and that’s a good thing:



“When the Assad family falls, it will be a major blow to the radical axis led by Iran,” Barak said. “It will weaken Iran, it will weaken Hezbollah and weaken the backing for Hamas, and it will deprive the Iranians of a real stronghold in the Arab world. It will strengthen Turkey, which is a natural rival to Iran’s hegemonic intentions…This is something positive for Israel.”

The only mystery here is why the Israeli leadership has only now realized keeping Assad in power is not in their country’s interest. But better late than never. [ read more at link]