OPINION:
Michael Doran, former member of the Bush National Security Council and a noted Middle Eastern scholar, said Monday that if the Assad regime wins the current conflict in Syria, Iran could end up embedded in the Golan Heights and could become an existential threat to Israel.
Mr. Doran called for a U.S. policy that seeks to facilitate cooperation between allies such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel to counter Iran. “Only the US can do that – pull them together.” If this does not happen, Israel could end up with Iranian forces and rockets on its border with Syria and “there is not much Israel can do about it,” reported the Jerusalem Post. Mr. Doran, currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, was speaking to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on a panel moderated by Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde.
We have written about Russia providing Hezbollah open access to weapons depots in Syria in exchange for intelligence and targeting information on the ground. At some point, when Assad’s grip on power in Syria is assured, the Iranian terrorist, proxy army will return its sights to destroying the Jewish State.
Mr. Doran said the Syrian situation could “worsen quickly.” US President Barack Obama “represents a trend in the national security elite, which sees Iran as a natural ally of the U.S. A very strongly held opinion, but they don’t like to advertise it because it is unpopular on the Hill.”
When in the White House and confronted with rogue regimes like Syria or Iran, there are always secret channels to hear a totally different message from what is voiced publicly, he said. “It is ’I am your friend, I can solve your problems, why are you so close to the Jews, the Saudis, work with me. Yes we have our hard-liners like you do, but we can cut a deal.’ “
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