The Coming Clash Over Syria: Israel and Turkey Are on a Collision Course

In December, a consortium of rebel factions unexpectedly toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for five decades. Two of the country’s neighbors, Israel and Turkey, have taken advantage of the resultant power vacuum by establishing a presence there—and have already begun to butt heads. For years, Ankara indirectly assisted the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham by operating a buffer zone in northern Syria that protected the faction from Assad’s forces. Now Turkey wants even more influence in Syria so it can quash Kurdish hopes for autonomy and engineer the return of the three million Syrian refugees. Yet Israel wants more influence in Syria, too. It views Assad’s ouster as a strategic windfall with regard to Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, and officials are racing to take advantage of his removal by establishing buffer zones and informal spheres of influence in the south. Israel is particularly concerned by Turkey’s presence in the country because it fears Ankara will encourage Damascus to harbor anti-Israeli militants...

Read the full article on the Foreign Affairs website.