With Donald Trump in the White House and Russian President Vladimir Putin eyeing a bigger role in the Middle East, it’s springtime for secular autocrats. Ask Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and he would tell you there is also no better time for a crisis in the Gulf.
A sudden flare-up of tension among the Arab oil monarchies in early June has seen some of Assad’s fiercest opponents go head to head. Accused of breaking the Saudi-led consensus, having affairs with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, and of sponsoring extremist groups, Qatar is now under blockade and faces crushing pressure from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and their allies; relief comes only in the form of supplies flown in from Turkey and Iran. Although no one has yet said a kind word about the Syrian president, he must be enjoying the spectacle: not only are Assad’s enemies fighting, they are also stumbling over each other to win Moscow’s support—and that could provide him with a political opening.