 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. I have with me Prabir Pulkayastha, the founding editor of NewsClick. And we are going to be discussing West Asian politics with the focus on Israel. Hi Prabir. Israel recently opposed the US, Russia, ceasefire negotiations over Syria. It alleged the consolidation of Iran in the region and there are also its growing concerns over Hezbollah. So how do you read the situation? You know, Israel has wanted to dominate military in the entire region and it has effectively won the earlier wars, though it could be argued the fact remains Israel has been the strongest military power in that region. They are afraid of two things. One is the fact that Hezbollah in the last wars in Lebanon, when they were in occupation of southern Lebanon, they had to retreat from there. And the second one, when they recently had attacked about 2005-2006, they attacked Lebanon. That said, they could not get beyond two or three kilometers of the border. And that was a big shock to them because they thought they could knife through any opposition militarily in that region. And their target was to reach the literary river and make that as a natural border, evict Hezbollah from those positions. They are afraid of the Hezbollah for two reasons. One is militarily Hezbollah has been able to find them on the ground and Israel is found. Then the military engaged with Hezbollah, they are not willing. That's one issue. The second part, Hezbollah has a lot of rockets and missiles. And if it really uses them against Israel, then it's a fact that Tel Aviv etc would also be affected. But what Hezbollah has are really missiles and rockets, which a lot of it has come from Iran. A lot of it is technology which Iran might have given, but Hezbollah has also developed internally. So Hezbollah does pose military problems for Israel. The second part of it, Iran as one of the generals recently has said, is a country which has advanced technology, has good scientific knowledge and is a large country. It's 80 billion people. So therefore Iran's ability to militarily engage is significant. It was quite far from Israel, but now with the Iraq war first, then Syria, particularly what has happened in the last few couple of years when Iran has actively sent troops into Syria. And therefore Iran is now much closer to Israel's borders than they ever were. So Hezbollah, Iran and Syrian government troops which have become battle-hardened over the few years, the fact that they are working very closely together with Russian Air Force in the area, they are coming into what I would call as experience of modern warfare on a scale which Israel never thought they would encounter in the region. So I think this is what has sent the alarm bells ringing, that Hezbollah is a serious opposition. Iran is now coming close to its borders and therefore what do they do? They opposed Russia and American agreement which meant that if those rebel forces which were really being supported by the Americans to reach a ceasefire agreement, some of them being evacuated and some of them surrendering to the Syrian government. If that happens, then that region comes under the Syrian government's control which it indeed has. The few pockets which existed with ISIS and Al Qaeda have been taken out except now pockets which really, but Israeli occupied Jalan. So the Jalan heights are mostly freed from the rebel troops which exist, which held parts of it with Israeli supporters we now know. Only the pockets which still are there are, as I said, few pockets very close to the border which presumably received direct support from Israel. Now given that fact that Hezbollah Iranian troops and the Syrian troops are only 8 kilometers from Jalan means that it's a much tougher nut for Israel to crack if it wants to militarily invade Syria and try and shall we say get further into Syrian territory for the ceasefire that the Russians and Americans have negotiated on behalf of the Syrian government and presumably the Free Syrian Army which is supposedly fighting the Syrian government but not a part of Al Qaeda analysis. I think that's what is angered Israel because it feels Iran has now come close to its borders. Hezbollah has been strengthened. Syrian government forces have been strengthened. Russia is giving the protection and therefore the disquiet that we are no longer the dominant military power. It's not that we can do anything we want. Now moving a little bit to the United Arab Emirates, there are two kind of things that have been coming in news recently. One is Prince Salman visiting Israel. The other is the news of the UAE ambassador to US. His emails being leaked and they amongst many other things reveal the growing links between UAE and the foundation for defense of democracy. A pro-Israel think tank in the US. It also talks about the selling campaign against Qatar. Do you think there is a realignment of forces happening here and would you like to comment something on that? Saudis, United Arab Emirates are coming close to Israel. There has been an unwritten understanding between them for quite some time. It's nothing, in that sense it's not new. It has been an ongoing one but it is never as open as it is today. It's also clear that Bin Salman becoming first crown prince number 2 and then becoming crown prince number 1 was engineered by the United States, United Arab Emirates support that they wanted Bin Salman to be the next king. Considering the existing king doesn't seem to be in good health. Bin Salman has become de facto the ruler of Saudi Arabia. Now it's not clear that it was he who went to Israel, the reports that it was he who went to Israel. It only said high ranking member of the royal family visited Israel. That's what seems to have been made public by Israel. It's also Israel's signal that they are making an entry into West Asian politics with the support of some of the Arab countries and therefore they are really no longer completely friendless in this region. So that is one signal. Utaiba, the ambassador you talked about who's there in Washington, has been the mover and shaker of a lot of the United Arab Emirates moves in the United States linking Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates against Qatar and in favor of Israel and working very closely with the State Department in the United States. This hacked emails are clear. Of course this hacked emails have been in public domain now for more than 2-3 months. Now it's also clear that Qatar and Saudi Arabia both have supported different kinds of what I would call Islamist sectarian forces in Syria and in the region actively involved in the insurgency in Syria. In fact let's face it, it was a proxy war by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and of course the NATO forces led by the United States that we saw in Syria. That's been the proxy war that has been going on. Qatar and Saudi Arabia having fought now particularly the belief of the Saudi royal family that Qatar is a pushover and it would succumb to Saudi pressure if they all put that pressure on Qatar. That has not happened but it has split this group and therefore a lot more leaks are taking place. Qatar is showing how Saudi Arabia is in bed with terrorism, terrorist forces and Saudi Arabia is also leaking how Qatar was doing the same. So this is why we have got much more transparency today because as it were the thieves have fallen out. So that's been the issue. But it does show very clearly that Israel, United Arab Emirates and Saudis are starting working together against what used to be relatively nationalist governments earlier and Iran I would say in spite of its Islamist profile, it still is a country which has resisted foreign control over its natural resources like Syria has and Iraq had done earlier. However, unsavory the governments might be. They had that positive element in them and that's why they're anathema to United States and the other exponential powers who wanted to control the rich oil resources in the region and we now see that the Saudis and United Arab Emirates being sort of the advisers to Saudis who are the big guys in the region and Israel coming together essentially against Iran who they identify as a common enemy and now Syria we'll also see how they look at Iraq because de facto Iraq is joining this kind of coalition because it does see the sectarian Islamist forces which are controlling parts of its territory are essentially supported by Saudi Arabia that's whom they have identified as the danger and therefore they are coming together and that represents a major shift because Israel coming in with Saudi Arabia does change the equation in West Asia and it strengthens Iran in the long run if this becomes public which it now indeed is. Also there is the upcoming Kurdish referendum next week or so and Israel has as it claims to be the supposedly only democracy in the turbulent Middle East has given its full support to this referendum saying that it's western looking like we are. So what do you think about this development? Let's be clear the person who has talked about that Israel should support this he is not an official representative of the Israeli government. The government has been more circumspect in not openly saying we support the Kurdish referendum but it is also a fact that Israel has tried for a long time along with the United States to co-op the Kurds and make them fight against the Arab regimes in that area Arab governments in that area. Barzani who is the one in Iraq at the moment who is sort of leading this referendum etc is very much a part of an American plant in the region starting from a Kurdish independence movement which he did once upon a time he has gone closer and closer to the United States and is very much their creature as of now. As you know he should have his term was over about two years back he refused to recognize it still continues as an unelected now president of this Kurdish republic whatever it might be which is supposed to be a self governing part of Iraq that's what official it's supposed to be they or he would like to separate and assert his independence clearly with support from different forces Israel being one of the United States being the other United States has now really lost out in the region big time if you see now Iran, Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah this is the dominant military sect power in this region so both Saudis and Israel do feel that if they can get a Kurdish independence movement going and it splits the Arab states there is further infighting there is further civil war in these places that it weakens these countries and Kurdish problem exists in all of these places Iran has a Kurdish population Iraq has a Kurdish population Syria has now the Kurds are not in unified entity they even speak different languages in different places they have multiple religious identities so it would be wrong to think Kurdish nationality is a homogenous nationality as the world might believe it Kurdish groups are also quite different the PKK has erstwhile Marxist links it's now moving away from some of it the YPG and PYD in Syria are very close to PKK Barzani has nothing to do with any left politics whatsoever and has been taking a very different kind of position so it's not a unified political agenda that we are talking about so the Kurdish referendum is really a referendum in a part of Iraq that's what we have to see we have to see what the rest of the Kurds want to do meaning the PKK and the YPG I don't think they're going to get into this but we really have to see how it develops certainly Israel and the United States would like to get them into more of this kind of confrontation Thank you very much Prabir for this this is all for today and let's continue this conversation on news click please follow news click for developments in West Asia