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From an Iranian and Sunni Arab Perspective, the Americans Are Working to Strengthen the Iranian Regime at the Expense of Israel
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dr. Harold Rhode - Iranian leaders constantly worry about a "Grand Conspiracy" against their country. After the attack on Iran's senior IRGC leaders in Damascus on December 25, 2023, which many attribute to Israel, the Iranians asked: How did Israel know precisely when and where to eliminate Iran's senior IRGC leadership in Syria and Lebanon? They concluded that it was their erstwhile Alawite allies in Syria who run the country, namely, President Assad. How does Iran know this? Because the Alawites, though an offshoot of Shiism, aren't truly allies because, while they both share the belief in the centrality of Muhammad's cousin Ali as the central figure of their respective religions, Alawites see Ali as a god, which is anathema to Shiism. So, no matter how close they are as allies against the Sunnis, the Shiites have long suspected Alawites as unreliable. In the 1930s and early '40s, Alawite leaders often saw the Jews in Palestine as an ally against the Sunnis, who then ruled Syria. Assad's great-grandfather was one of seven Alawite leaders who signed a letter to the French rulers of Syria, citing the way the Sunnis were treating the Jews in Palestine as the way the Sunnis treated the Alawites in Syria. This supposedly "proves" the Alawite-Jewish/Israel connection. On April 13, 2024, Israel shot down 99% of the missiles, drones, and rockets that Iran launched against Israel. Israel's fantastic success deeply humiliated the Iranian government. We are now hearng from many people in the Arab world and Iranians that there are now two opposing alliances in the Middle East: the American administration and their ally - the Iranian government, and the Arab Sunni regimes (minus Qatar) and Israel. More and more Middle Easterners believe this because the Americans are putting massive pressure on Israel not to attack Iran's allies - i.e., not to go into Rafah in Gaza and destroy Iran's Hamas ally, not to go after Hizbullah, the Iranians' fifth column in Lebanon, and, of course, not to attack Iran. The writer, a fellow of the Jerusalem Center, served as an adviser on the Islamic world for the U.S. Department of Defense for 28 years.