By Denis Korkodinov
Israel intends to consolidate its relations with the Sunnis to achieve strategic goals. This was officially announced by the head of the Mossad special services Yossi Cohen. In his opinion, the rapprochement with the Sunnis against Iran represents a “a unique opportunity” for the regional security.
It is worth noting that at present Tel Aviv has officially relations with only two Arab states: Jordania and Egypt. However, Israel is rapidly gaining the favor of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, thereby creating the so-called “Sunni buffer” in the Middle East. The main objective of this conglomerate of countries is to counter threats emanating from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
It could be a mistake to say that the pact between Jews and Arabs against the Persians will turn in a long-term alliance. Arabs traditionally dislike Jews, but to counter Tehran, they agree to temporarily sacrifice their principles.
For almost 69 years, Tel Aviv has tried to distance itself from Ara, adhering to David Ben-Gurion’s so-called PeriPherical Alliance Strategy. According to this strategy, Israel aimed to consolidate is relations exclusively with non-Arab states. Meanwhile, Turkey and Iran were not considered as a potential threat.
Now the geopolitical situation has changed dramatically. A number of Arab states oppose Iran. In addition, Turkey turned out to be rather weak in the Arab world, which creates grounds for Tel Aviv to start building alliances.
This alignment of forces is unique in its nature, since Israel may incur the wrath of the Shiites, which may provoke a new wave of religious conflicts. If this happens, then Iran is likely to try to use it in its own interests, creating the Iranian enemy of Israel “Shiite belt.” And if the Shiites and Sunnis enter into direct military conflict, it may have a global repercussion.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).