Old timers in the Levantine press are not surprised at all that Israel chose this time to strike deep inside Syria. They warned – while the rest of the world was still digesting Assad’s sudden exit – that Ahmad al Sharaa and his throat-cutting, suicide-bombing jihadist buddies from al Qaeda and ISIS would waste no time in going after Syria’s many minorities.

Also that nobody would blink when they massacre Alawis across the Mediterranean coastline around Latakia, the Assad family’s home town – indeed there were hundreds of summary executions, also by “men wearing shalwar qameez”, according to surviving witnesses. But Israel would step in when the Druze come under attack because unlike Latakia, their base Sweida hugs the Golan Heights – exactly the area Israel has been looking to envelop and fortify for more than 50 years.

Yet they are wondering if Erdogan is surprised. It’s out in the open now that he was equal partners with Israel and the US in the project to throw out Assad; Turkey provided the hardware and Israel gave intelligence like only Mossad can, and together with Uncle Sam’s blessings they were able to install an uneducated Salafi jihadi extremist, who’s openly called for war with west, ethnic cleansing of Muslim minorities, and the imposition of........

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