Turkey and Iran, a joint threat to Israel in 2017

Submitted by Michael S, Jan 4, 2017 at 11:17

I have been carefully following the progress of Turkish-Iranian relations. As of today (Jan. 4, or "Trump minus 15 days"), the two countries are working together to try to manage the situation in Syria. They have these things in common:

1. The Turks are mainly concerned with preventing a separate Kurdish region in Syria. This also accords with Iranian wishes.

2. Both countries want to eliminate ISIS. Turkey, of course, was largely responsible for ISIS coming into being; but now it stinks in the nose of the Caliphate because of the Turkish incursion against them.

3. Both countries acquiesce to the idea of destroying the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, even though they have until now been supported by Turkey to fight against Assad.

In 2011, during the beginnings of the "Arab Spring", it seemed as though the Muslim Brotherhood (of which Turkey's ruling party is an offshoot) would take over the Middle East; and Turkey bet heavily on this assumption. Their plans went afoul, though, in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria. Bashar al-Assad did not fall, like Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi. He successfully resisted the Turkish and Saudi forces aligned against him, as well as the blithering-idiot foreign policy of Barack Obama. When the Russians came in, to help Assad in earnest, Turkey saw the handwriting on the wall and has sued for peace.

Turkey seems set to get ever-deeper involved in Syria, fighting against the Kurds; and the Iranians and their Hizbullah client don't plan on leaving the area either. Between the two of them, they pose an imminent threat to Israel.

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