United States envoy Tom Barrack told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on April 17, 2026, that the Middle East only functions under powerful leadership regimes — benevolent monarchies or monarchial republics. Everything else, he said, faded away after the Arab Spring.

This is not realism. It is a recycled failure. Barrack’s strongman doctrine has been tested with Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The results are identical: corruption, mass repression, terrorism, and broken American partnerships.

In Syria today, his preference for Ahmed al-Sharaa repeats the same error with predictable consequences.

Sweida province in southern Syria provides the clearest counter-evidence. It contains 500,000 people, more than 85 percent of whom are Druze and nearly 10 percent of whom are Christian. Since the Assad regime fell, Druze forces have held de facto control. The province remains the only area consistently safe for Christians in post-Assad Syria. Its mountainous terrain has protected the Druze for centuries.

Emerging in the 10th century as a distinct faith, the Druze people faced persecution and withdrew to the highlands of Lebanon, Syria,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)