“In 1965, the eminent British journalist Patrick Seale published an important book titled ‘The Struggle for Syria.’ Its main thesis was that anyone who wants to acquire dominant status in the Middle East must control Syria or have friendly relations with it. The primary reason for Syria’s importance in the regional system stemmed, in his opinion, from its geostrategic location in the heart of the Middle East. This status led, in the 1950s and ’60s, until Hafez Assad’s ascent to power in 1970, to the fact that Syria became a focus of both the struggles between Egypt and Iraq for hegemony in the Arab world, and between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The current civil war in Syria has restored that country, to a great extent, to the period when it was a battleground between forces more powerful than itself in the regional arena. The basic thesis laid down by Seale (who for many years was close to the Assad family and even wrote Hafez’s biography ) remains the same, but the players and circumstances have changed.”

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