What Israel’s Doha Attack Means for Turkey + Hezbollah and the SDF/PKK disarmament tracks
Two issues this week: the AKP’s inner circle is palpably concerned about a direct clash with Israel, while Hezbollah and the SDF/PKK face stalled disarmament
Israel’s strike on Hamas officials in Doha, which left six dead according to Qatari authorities, was defended in Tel Aviv as ‘the punishment of terror leaders’ but registered across the region as a breach of sovereignty that directly endangered the fragile negotiations on hostages and a ceasefire. I don’t know about you, but I believe the latter is closer to the truth if we are speaking of consequences.
The Qatari prime minister declared that the attack had ‘killed any hope’ in the talks, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in an unusual alignment with Doha, condemned it as a violation of international norms. Statements of concern from European governments and the UN secretary-general followed. Hamas, for its part, insisted that its conditions remained unchanged, yet the venue of mediation itself now appeared compromised - and with it the diplomatic architecture that US and the UK had leaned on to contain the war.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Angle, Anchor, and Voice to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.