The Syrian jihadist government has been consolidating its power by systematically attacking the minorities — Alawites, Druze, and the Kurds — in the country. It has just taken over the Kurdish-majority city of Qashmili, and has forced the dismantlement of the Kurdish autonomous region in northeast Syria, with the Kurdish militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces now being integrated into the Syrian National Army. And Turkey is delighted that the Syrian Kurds will no longer be a threat to Turkish interests. More on the Damascus-Ankara “Sunni Axis” can be found here: “Why the fall of Kurdish autonomy is Israel’s strategic nightmare – opinion,” by Amine Ayoub, Jerusalem Post, February 10, 2026:
The headlines from Syria this week are being celebrated as a triumph of “territorial unification.” The new Syrian Sunni Islamist regime, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has successfully consolidated power in the strategic city of Qamishli.
Under the guise of a “phased integration” deal, the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has effectively been dismantled.
The post-Assad honeymoon – a period of hope that a new Damascus would usher in a pluralistic, decentralized democracy – is officially over.
There is no pluralism in al-Sharaa’s Syria. The minorities — non-Arab Kurds, Shia Arabs, and non-Muslim Druze — have had to submit to a Sunni Arab regime. Power is now centralized in Damascus, where Sunni Arabs are the undisputed rulers.
For Israel, the reality is even more sobering. The demise of the Kurdish buffer in the northeast does not signal a new era of stability; it heralds the birth of a militarized, Islamist “Sunni Crescent” that targets Israeli security with a fervor that the “predictable” Bashar al-Assad never possessed.
For nearly a decade, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) served as a vital, if unofficial, partner in the regional fight against radicalism. Its de facto autonomy provided a geographic and ideological break between the Mediterranean and the Iranian border and, more importantly, a bulwark against Turkish expansionism….
The Kurdish-led SDF had been the Americans’ most effective ally in the war against ISIS. The Kurdish autonomous region has also been a buffer, standing in the way of Turkish expansionism; Erdogan regards the Syrian Kurds as dangerous, because he sees them as potentially linking up with Kurdish separatists in Turkey, and has wanted to crush them. Now he need no longer do so; the Syrian government has pressured the SDF so relentlessly that the Kurds have agreed for their SDF units to be dismantled and integrated into the Syrian National Army. Yet the Syrian state is not neutral; it is run by Sunni Arabs who are jihadists. The minorities are now merely tolerated; the ruling Sunnis do not treat them as equals.
Turkey has long sought to crush the Kurdish autonomous region in northeast Syria. And now, instead of having to fight the Kurds inside Syria, Ankara has watched as the Syrian army has forced the Kurds to dismantle their SDF forces and to give up their autonomy. Damascus has not objected to the military outposts that Turkey has set up just inside Syria. It sees Ankara as its ally against Kurdish separatists.
As possible future leaders of the Sunni Arabs, the Syrians necessarily must be prepared to confront the “Zionist enemy.” For now, this means pressuring Israel to surrender the Syrian territory it took over in the immediate aftermath of Assad’s downfall —including the buffer zone it set up beyond the 1974 ceasefire line, and all of Mount Hermon. Al-Sharaa’s hope to lead the Sunni world will, however, come a cropper, because Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees himself in that role, and Turkey is far more formidable a force than Syria.
Al-Sharaa is not prepared for peace with Israel, despite his claim that he is prepared to make peace “with all of Syria’s neighbors.” He wants back all of the land the IDF seized just north of the Golan Heights, including Mount Hermon. His close ally, Erdogan, more than a year ago called for all the Muslim states to contribute to a pan-Islamic army capable fo defeating Israel, and he left no doubt as to whom he thought was most fitting to lead such an army — himself.
The honeymoon is over, and the era of the “Sunni Crescent” has begun.
somehistory says
turkeye and syria threatening Israel is not really news….muzzies have been threatening the Jews for centuries.
Now, the real news will be when there are no more threats from muzzies.
Ezekiel foretold that day; a long, long time ago. It seems to be looming close.
Wellington says
I have to wonder how much President Trump is getting all of this. I should think the arguably weakest link here would be what those advising him about Syria are telling him. If it’s your standard State Department personnel then this is not good, though Rubio might override such misinformation (real misinformation and not the phony kind pushed by Democrats). There is also the consideration that Trump himself has a very good built-in crap detector though sometimes I even find myself doubting this. Matters very fluid as they usually are.
GE says
I’m with you, Wellington. It’s baffling to see Trump palsy- walsy with Erdogan and Al-Sharaa.
And J.D. Vance was just in Yerevan and then Baku. Turkey strong armed Vance into deleting a post on X about attending a wreath laying ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Memorial to honor the victims of the 1915 genocide. It was scrubbed of all references to the genocide.
While in Yerevan, Armenians protested asking US to speak out on behalf of political prisoners in Artsakh, and for detained Armenians, jailed for speaking out against the current government.
(Pashinyan is an appeasing disaster, imo)
And Erdogan is behind all of this—Al Sharaa and Aliyev of Azerbaijan are his minions, threatening Israel and Armenia while committing provocations against Greece and trying to charm the Balkans.
And while in Davos, Trump met with Aliyev and NOT Pashinyan. He does seem to favor the “tough guys”.
Make me wonder who’s advising him also.
Rob Porter says
JD Vance deleting his post on X was an act of nauseating cowardice, He should have told Erdogan’s and his Muslim savages, “Screw you, your mob should not have carried out this herendous genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians”, but in all too weak Western fashion Vance capitulated to Muslim savages. How these disgusting Muslims must gloat over weak Westerners.
OLD GUY says
It’s complicated with so many fingers in the pie.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
GE
Vance should either have not issued that post in the first place, or once he did, he should have let it stand. Right now, I wouldn’t blame the Armenians for wondering whether Iran might be more of an ally than the US is
As for Trump, he only respects strongmen, hence his admiration of Putin, Kim and Erdogan
Patrick says
Two terrorist Islamic nations threaten Israel, yet President Trump refers to one of them as an ally, the other, Al Sharaa, he invites to the White House. President Trumps negotiating team, wants to build a Middle East oasis in GAZA, who the hell is advising Trump? The entire peace process is sticky one sided, on the other side, is Satan and a house/world of Islamic terrorists.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think that Syria is still trying to lull Israel into a false sense of security before they feel confident enough to threaten Israel. So right now, Turkey is the only member of the crescent. However, given the indulgence both they and Qatar have received, I wouldn’t be surprised if a sunni crescent does form around Israel – of Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia. Particularly since Iran no longer seems to be a threat
Winston 101 says
The Sunni Crescent:
Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt ,Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and others who will become Sunni as Shia continues to fail. I expect Sunni countries to become more confidently Sunni, as they succeed, and other smaller countries will appear to convert.
With their success they will not find The West so useful and will not have to hide their true face.
It will be then that Israel sees who her neighbors really are. It will be the same people they saw on Oct 7th.
I used to wonder why the ☪️ crescent moon was used on outhouse doors.
Now it only seems fitting.
somehistory says
I believe it was there to make a distinction between that little building and other ‘out-buildings.’ We all knew what the little moon meant.
It also allowed in a little light at night which was necessary for visits in the dark.
Rob Porter says
“The honeymoon is over”, indeed, and Donald Trump contributed to this circumstance when falling over himself to please Saudi Prince bin Salman who had persuaded Trump to meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa. We watched Trump shake the bloodstained hand of al-Sharaa whose Muslim savages had recently murdered many members of ethnic minorities, Alawites, Christians, Kurds and Duze. Trump waffled about al-Sharaa “a strong leader”, lifted a $10 million U.S. bounty on al-Sharaa for when he was a murderous al-Qaeda leaders – who no doubt on September 11, 2001 would have cheered as the World Trade Centre came crashing down.
Never to worry about such things, Trump lifted U.S. sanctions on Syria and demanded of Israel that it stop incursions into Syria ‘because these, he said, ‘interfered with “Syria’s prosperity”. What prosperity? This was utter drivel. Syria, like Damascus, is largely a war-torn wreck. Within weeks of Trump’s newfound relationship with Syria and al-Sharaa, al-Sharaa’s Muslim savages once again murdered in a spree of mindless savagery thousand of men, women and children, posting on social media their barbarism. Mutilated bodies were stacked up like logs in a lumber yard. The ISIS flag once again flies over Raqqa and U.S. forces would not have the temerity to ‘spoil a good thing’ by smashing al-Sharaa’s Shia Muslims – while they prepare to target Israel with Turkey’s all too willing help.