By the time this is read, it may be that action against Bashar al-Assad has already started. For Israelis, these are especially worrying times.
No one knows what impact Western action in Syria will have and how it will eventually affect Israel. But there is one aspect to Assad’s use of chemical weapons that has not been fully appreciated and which makes action all the more critical. Syria is now a test case for Iran.
The Islamic Republic is now Assad’s only regional ally. Syria is effectively a client state of Iran. And the world’s leading funder of terror is now watching the West’s response to Assad’s deployment of chemical weapons.
If the rest of the world does nothing more than issue condemnations and then simply shrugs its shoulders, the Iranians will draw a very clear conclusion – that, when push comes to shove, war criminals and terror states can get away with it. And with Iran growing ever nearer to the ability to build a nuclear weapon, a response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons is not merely justified — it is essential.
