Arab Spring Leads Israel’s Enemies to Turn on Each Other

February 21, 2013 2:02 pm

Author:

Zach Pontz

Tags:

Gaza infighting Global JIhad hamas hezbollah internecine warfare Islamic Jihad Israel terror Israel today Syrian civil war syrian rebels

Hezbollah fighters.

It’s well known that Israel is the lynchpin that keeps all the disparate terror groups in the Middle East focused on one major goal: the destruction of the Jewish state. It’s also well known that if Israel didn’t exist there would merely be a plethora of terror groups fighting one another instead.

But a political lacuna has come with the Arab Spring and now all the terror groups are vying with one another to fill it, which has refocused the raison d’etre of many terror groups and made  Israel something of an afterthought at the moment.

According to Israel Today: “In Gaza, Hamas has of late found itself in competition with groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and Global Jihad for the hearts and minds of local Palestinians. In response, Hamas has reportedly started rounding up and jailing its rivals.”

Israeli monitoring group Terror Watch has reported that Islamic Jihad issued a warning that Hamas must cease this activity, or risk having Islamic Jihad target Hamas interests thereby reigniting a conflict with Israel.

Along the Syria-Lebanon border the myriad groups that have been battling Bashar al-Assad’s government forces have become increasingly fed up with Hezbollah’s support of the regime. In recent days reports have surfaced of battles between Hezbollah and the rebels which have caused high casualties. Concern that Hezbollah could become more belligerent if Syria, a main sponsor and supply line, falls have also created fears that the violence will only escalate.