The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has upended Syria’s power dynamics, ushering in new political actors, sectarian fault lines, and external alignments. At the heart of this churn lies a community whose fate remains precarious: the Alawites.

The comment critically examines Israel’s military assault on Iran in June 2025, arguing that strategic, political, and personal motives—rather than Iran's nuclear threat—drove the decision.