This remark by commenter Helga Fellay at the end of J. Cook’s Dec 21 article “Israel, not the liberators, will decide Syria’s fate” is crucial, it seems to me, in what is happening. The drive for Israel to enlarge to “Greater Israel” has been dramatically propelled forward by recent events. But the situation is boiling with potential conflicts and a possibly Libya-like chaos developing. We had a number of comments for the Cook article (comments now closed) that seemed very insightful as with Helga’s. I hope we can continue this discussion.

Recently, also, analysts such as Alastair Crooke have been suggesting there’s not only a “greater Israel” in play but a “greater Turkey,” to help dig further into the complexity of conflicting objectives from the seeming-victors at this time. It is also difficult to imagine HTS remaining cooperative to minor roles and pretending cooperation. All this bears on how quickly Israel can gull Trump into an attack on Iran, and the potential for world war.