During the precedent Cold War, the United States made use of three main countries in the Middle East, in order to confront the spread of Communism and Nationalism. Turkey represented the first line of defense in the face of the Soviet Union. The Shah's Iran, the Gulf's policeman, represented the strategic reserve in any war Israel would wage against what was known as the "belt" of Arab countries surrounding it. As for the Hebrew State, it represented, as it still does, the spearhead in any confrontation. On the other hand, Syria, Egypt and Iraq were, for the Soviet Union, countries of confrontation. Egypt, with its African dimension and influence on the Levant, had helped many countries break free of colonialism and join Moscow's camp, in addition to being, along with India, one of the main pillars of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). It also played a role in the confrontation between New Delhi and Islamabad, the latter being a main ally of the US in Asia. Today alliances have changed a great deal. It is true that Turkey still holds the same stance on the United States, but its own ambitions now exceed confronting the spread of extremism. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey's Islamists began to have the ambition of restoring the past glory of their country's empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, i.e. right at Russia's border. Thus the Levant began to be viewed by Turkey as a mere group of provinces bound to Ankara. The latter is now waging a war, directly and by proxy, in Syria, which has become exposed to division on a sectarian basis and ruled by the laws of sect and creed. As for Iran, whose influence had once relied on a Nationalist basis, or a Leftist and Rightist one, as it used to be termed back in those days, its position under the Islamic Revolution has become completely different, and it now harbors ambitions of becoming a superpower. It has been able to spread its influence from Iraq to Lebanon, through Syria and Palestine, alongside its attempts to restore the standing held by the Shah back when he had been the Gulf's policeman. Egypt is the only country that no longer holds the influence it had enjoyed under Abdel Nasser. Its isolation, ever since it ratified the Camp David Accords with Israel, has been the cause for major discrepancy in the regional balance of power. This in turn has had a direct effect on the American assault the region has witnessed and continues to witness, which took the form of Israeli wars in both Palestine and Lebanon. Amid such geostrategic complexity, the peoples of the region are going through sectarian civil wars waged in the name of religion, sect and confession. Most saddening for observers is the fact that minor players, and among them intellectuals, believe that their rising to power, over the lives of those on the other side, would turn all the tables and shift the balance. Thus the Lebanese, for example, imagine that civil strife from Abra, near Sidon, to Maarab, and from Tripoli to Tyre, through all other areas of the country, will bring them democracy and dignity. Similarly, the Syrians, both Islamists and non-Islamists, believe that control over any of Azaz near the Turkish border, Ghouta or Lattakia will bring them back to the days of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Both are nothing but tools serving the interests of the major players, who care little for their lives. The major players are wrestling to establish a new world order. It has now become possible, without taking great risks, to imagine such an order emerging from the wars over Syria and inside it, and from the ongoing tragedy experienced by the Syrian people for the past two and a half years. Then, it will no longer matter who rules that country, after it has been destroyed and deprived of its influence on grand strategies, if it even remains a unified country. Reaching such a phase will require a long period of time– a time rife with surprises and civil wars, the full scale of whose violence appeared clearly in Iraq and in the Levant. Knowing that neither Iran nor Turkey will be safe from them. as long as they are being waged in the name of religion.
