Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas Alliance   [J. Peter Pham]

My friend Dr. Ely Karmon, senior research scholar at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, in Herzliya, Israel, has just published a monograph in the U.S. Army War College's Proteus Monograph Series called Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas: A Coalition Against Nature. Why Does It Work?

Pace unimaginative analysts who continue to mouth mantras about why Sunnis and Shia cannot possibly form a grand alliance against the United States and its friends, Karmon argues that "what makes this strange unnatural alliance work is foremost the strong religious ideologies that shape the strategy of three of the actors: Iran, Hizballah, and Hamas." In fact, he argues that "a major cohesive element [is] the fact that they challenged the same major enemies," who have unwittingly enabled them:

However, the series of victories of this alliance during the last three decades is not only the result of the robust relationships and durable cooperation between its four members, but it is, in great measure, the consequence of the U.S., European, and Israeli leaderships' lack of strategic vision and political courage.

The United States and France (the major European country challenged by the axis) did not inflict any serious damage to Iran and its operational arm, Hizballah, for the long series of terrorist attacks against their citizens, soldiers, and interests. Neither has Syria paid a real price for the direct and indirect support to Iranian and Hizballah anti-Western terrorism. Not only has Iran paid no price for twenty years of lying about its nuclear program, but the West is still willing to offer ever-greater incentives, strengthening the Iranian leaders' sense of self-confidence that they can achieve nuclear military capability.

The West has forced Bashar al-Asad to withdraw the Syrian army from Lebanon, but it has stopped short of endangering his regime at home or curtailing his influence in Lebanon.

Since 1982, Israel has permitted Syria to support continual Hizballah attacks from the north and Palestinian proxies’ attacks in the heart of its territory. Israeli leaders, who accused Syria during these years as responsible for the terrorist campaigns against the Jewish state, did not have the courage to challenge Damascus. Even during the July-August 2006 war, when Hamas leader Khaled Meshal was running the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier from Damascus, and Syria continued to provide heavy military hardware and ammunition to Hizballah, the Israeli government sent the message that it has no intention to bother Syria . . .

And finally, Israel, the United States, and the West permitted Hamas, a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, to take over the government of the Palestinian Authority through democratic elections.

The dangerous destabilizing effect of the Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas alliance on the Middle East and beyond, and the leadership role the Tehran regime plays in influencing the policy of this coalition according to its own strategic interests, places the prevention of the Iranian nuclear military program as first priority for the international community.

05/25 03:37 PMShare