Damascus v Ankara: The Syria conundrum – Jerusalem Studio

The leaders of Syria and Turkey are not, in fact, identical twins. Erdogan has been in power for more than two decades already and suffers no challenges to his autocratic regime. A-Shara has ruled Damascus and some other parts of the country for less than five months and has difficulty in holding sway over all the provinces and ethnic groups. What they do have in common, however, is their Sunni Islamist ideology, which Erdogan is pushing with a militant and vehemently anti-Israeli passion, while a-Shara is going for the more discreet approach in order to gain foreign recognition and relief. Can the Ankara-Aleppo axis, having one of its poles now in Damascus, keep going without the buildup of unbearable tension?