In the Middle East, Israel has often had to learn the hard way that appearances are a dangerous thing to trust. Militias become governments, terrorists reinvent themselves as statesmen. And Western diplomats applaud “pragmatism” while beleaguered minorities bury their dead.
Syria today is a case study in that recurring delusion – and Israel is far closer to its consequences than Washington seems willing to admit.
After the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, a familiar Western impulse kicked in: relief mixed with hope. Anything, it seemed, had to be better than the butcher of Damascus. Into that vacuum stepped Ahmed al-Sharaa, a man whose resumé includes senior leadership in al-Qaeda-linked factions, now presenting himself as Syria’s unifier and guarantor of order.
The makeover was swift and deliberate.
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