Die Gewinner und Verlierer des politischen Erdbebens in Syrien

Patrick Cockburn writes:

At first glance, the international winners and losers following the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad are obvious enough. The US, Israel and Turkey come out ahead because their long-term enemy in Damascus has lost power, while his traditional supporters – Russia, Iran and Hezbollah – have seen a crucial ally defeated.

This tally is accurate enough, but all the players in the Middle East political chess game are in a state of shock after an important piece, in the shape of Assad, has unexpectedly disappeared from the board.

Israel is an obvious beneficiary from the fall of Assad and a weakened Syria, a country which, not so long ago, was a potent military adversary. Yet last weekend, Israeli ground forces advanced without resistance beyond the demilitarised zone on the Syrian-Israeli border into Syrian territory, taking over the Syrian-held part of the summit of Mount Hermon.

Israel can claim a crucial role in the fall of Assad because it was its open war against Hezbollah since September, combined with its attacks on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria, that deprived Assad of help from two of his most important allies. Israel now has an uncontested regional dominance it has never possessed in the past, able to make air strikes everywhere from Yemen to Iran.

Read more here: [https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-winners-and-losers-of-the-political-earthquake-in-syria-3422548](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-winners-and-losers-of-the-political-earthquake-in-syria-3422548)