Middle EastWith today’s Israeli airstrike on Qatar, the number of regional capitals attacked is getting closer to the size of a soccer team.
Kabul 24: Doha, by joining the list of capitals bombed by Israel, has claimed the ninth spot. Before it, Tehran had worn the number eight jersey.
Qatar is a close ally of America and an unofficial friend of Israel. Therefore, today’s bombing shows that Israel’s long arm reaches everywhere, and for now, no military or political deterrent mechanism against it is effective.
Thus, this attack not only destroyed Hamas’s political office but also demolished Qatar’s foreign policy.
A super-wealthy country that, with ambition, spent part of its windfall wealth on increasing global influence and a form of geopolitical purchasing.
Why did Israel, contrary to predictions, behave this way and assassinate Hamas’s leadership cadre in Qatar?
If we set aside strategic and long-term calculations, this attack was probably a response to yesterday’s shooting at the Ramon bus station that left seven dead.
Although Hamas officially did not claim responsibility for it, the security apparatus of the Jewish state likely discovered its hand behind the scenes.
If this hypothesis is correct, it means that from now on, Israel will respond to the assassination of every ordinary citizen and basically any attack on its own soil with the assassination of political leaders and even heads of state.
Of course, in the past two years and after the October 7 operation, Israel, by systematically destroying Gaza and unprecedentedly massacring civilians, has practically unveiled a new deterrence equation in the region. But each time, by crossing conventional red lines, it creates new fissures and astonishes political observers.
From this moment, every head of state in the region could be on Israel’s next assassination list.
The bombing of Doha sounds the alarm most loudly in Ankara, the temporary residence of part of Hamas’s leaders and the newest rival to Israel over seizing the strategic depth of Syria.
From now on, the Turks must prepare themselves for direct confrontation, like the Iranians, with an Israeli entity that benefits from the generous support of an unpredictable president in the White House.
The bombing of Doha is another curtain in the show of the birth of the new Middle East. A region centered on Israel’s political and military axis and the decline of the role of old powers.
This transformation could lead to changes in current balances and give rise to new alliances in its wake.
It is clear that without Trump’s permission, such an attack would not have been possible. The controversial U.S. president, after relative failures in confronting China and Russia, sees the weak and submissive Middle East as a more tempting arena for pursuing his unconventional foreign policy.
Salahuddin Khadiu
