Al-Assad is the beneficiary!

There can be no doubt that the Bashar al-Assad regime was the main beneficiary of the bombing that struck the passenger bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, particularly as this explosion took place at a time when everybody was awaiting the announcement of an Egyptian and internationally guaranteed de-escalation or ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, led by Hamas. The bombing took place at a time when everybody was convinced of the need to halt the Israeli aggression and the firing of rockets from Gaza. This is something that the Egyptian wanted, to the point that some had already begun speaking about a victory for “Egyptian diplomacy” when the bombing took place. In fact, Khaild Mishal himself expressed his movement’s desire to abide by a ceasefire, saying “we do not want escalation, Hamas is courageous but not reckless!” Everybody wanted this ceasefire, including the Israelis, and the story is not one party’s intransigence over another, whether this is Hamas or Israel; rather all parties wanted to make gains from the truce in order to promote the story of their victory. However this bombing came to target the “final moments” of the efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement. This act did not accelerate or postpone the conflict in Gaza, rather lead to further Israeli intransigence, in addition to upsetting the balance of international media coverage. This ultimately resulted in talk about a “terrorist operation” rather than an Israeli war or aggression on the Gaza Strip, not to mention the sufferings of the people of Gaza. As for the party that most benefits from this, there can be no doubt that this is the party that most wanted to prolong this war. The biggest beneficiary of this war was the regime of the tyrant of Damascus, as the Gaza war drowned out the sounds of the war al-Assad is raging against his own people. We also saw Iran and Hezbollah attempting to benefit from the Gaza war to improve their stained images and prolong the life of the al-Assad regime. We saw Hassan Nasrallah, for example, saying that “Iran and al-Assad and Hezbollah will not abandon Gaza”. As for Iranian Parliamentary Speaker, Ali Larijani, he shamelessly said that regional countries “should send their forces, weapons and equipment to the Palestinian so that they will be used for confrontation with the Zionist regime instead of being used to cause attrition and confrontation between two Muslim groups in Syria”, as if 36,000 people killed at the hands of the al-Assad regime forces is nothing! Therefore, the statement made by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was most important, in which he said that “one finds Iran in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, in Gaza and each time with very negative intentions” adding “and then there is the big question of a nuclear Iran before us!” Accordingly, we should have no doubt that the party behind the bombing of the Tel Aviv bus is none other than the party that most wanted to prolong the Israeli aggression on Gaza, hit the Egyptian efforts and preoccupy the Arabs and international community with the Gaza crisis, rather than focusing on al-Assad’s war against his own people! In conclusion, as we have said before, the most important factor regarding the stability of this region is the toppling of al-Assad, whilst the Gaza war is the greatest proof regarding the threat represented by this regime and its allies on the region as a whole and the Palestinian Cause itself! --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.