Obama reconciled Israel and Turkey

On March 20, Barack Obama arrived in Israel. Two days later, it became clear that here, in Israel, during this visit, the fate of Bashar al-Assad and his regime might be decided.

On the morning of the 22nd, towards the end of President Obama's visit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and expressed his regret over the events two years ago around the so-called "Freedom Flotilla", which sailed to Gaza under the Turkish flag, was attacked by Israeli commandos and lost nine members of his “crew” are citizens of Turkey. Netanyahu apologized for the "mistakes" of the Israelis. Erdogan accepted the apology. The two countries reconciled and agreed to restore diplomatic relations. Barack Obama reconciled them. He also reported this as if by the way, already flying away from Israel.

When one most serious power reconciles two others, also serious ones, this is good in itself. Numerous citizens of Israel of right-wing convictions, who a priori leveled the visit of the head of the White House to zero, were eventually put to shame - there is a result, and a considerable one.

But at the same time, another perspective is looming — a more significant one in terms of the current balance of power in the region. Obama reconciled two countries, each of which is tired of the obstinacy of the regime in Damascus and would like to achieve at least some real settlement in Syria, which is impossible without the departure of Bashar al-Assad from the political arena. Departure is preferably voluntary, and if not, then what really ...

Turkey, tired of the stray firing of Syrian artillery, has deployed NATO Patriot anti-aircraft systems on its border with Syria. Israel recently launched a pre-emptive air raid on a Syrian research center where WMD could be developed. But those were the disjointed actions of two countries whose leaders have not spoken for the past two years. Now they can coordinate their actions - both at the political, and at the diplomatic, and at the military-strategic levels. Ankara and Jerusalem are quite capable of planning a joint effective military operation against Assad. The military potential of the regime in Damascus is more familiar to Israel. But a thorough knowledge of the real possibilities of the Syrian opposition, in which Turkey has become adept at hosting its political wing, can come in very handy. Finally, acting together, Netanyahu and Erdogan are quite capable of breaking Moscow's persistent belief that without Assad, the Syrian state will immediately disappear, just as, in its view, the state called Libya has already disappeared.

Due to all the circumstances listed above, President Obama's visit to Israel on March 20-22, the first foreign visit since his re-election for a second term, can be considered historic. And then we'll see.