The world will not forget or keep silent on the Houla massacre. The punitive measures — the expulsion of ambassadors and the political pressure from Russia and China, the main supporters of the Syrian regime — have started to point toward an international consensus on the need to remove the regime “Yemeni style” or through using other painful alternatives.
Israel surprised the world by its denunciation of the massacre. By doing so, Israel wanted to appear as a country that respects international law and human rights, although it has a long history of indulging in terrorism and massacres. Israel's terrorism began with the bombing of King David Hotel in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the massacres of Dir Yassin, Bahr El-Baqar, Sabra and Shatila, and Qana 1 and 2. It culminated in the massacres and destruction of Gaza.
There’s no doubt that Israel lived in peace with the Assad regime through clandestine agreements that might be unearthed after the regime is gone.
Israel is well aware that the alternative for the existing regime might be a Sunni rule that would harmonize with other similar governments bordering it. So it wanted to woo the Syrian people and freedom fighters through showing sympathy with the massacred children. By taking such a step, Israel is anticipating the events and is carefully reading the situation that the regime will ultimately fall, either by the power of law or under the strikes of the freedom fighters.
Countries surrounding Israel will be with Islamic entities. They will definitely not be Baathist, nationalist or Nasserite regimes. The turn of events in the region brought a new dimension to the leaders and policy makers in Israel. Although most of the Arab Spring countries entered into dialogues with America, the picture is still far from being clear. Moreover, the new circumstances in these countries have created important economic and security needs and necessitate a new system of ruling that would embody strategic changes. Israel will be an existing element, because the Arab people will have a word that is different from the conduct of their rulers.
Syria accepted the events with their protracting revolution. The massacre that led to Damascus bazaar going on strike until the Assad regime is gone has taken the role of the Iranian bazaar, which toppled the Shah. The circle of violence by the regime and the justification of its continuation is a naive maneuver. The hiding of facts is no longer easy in the face of modern technology and the fast communications. The crime reflects the regime's despair. The fate of Qaddafi and the cell of Mubarak are vivid pictures in front of Assad's eyes, so he was acting according to the tempo of someone dying in inconvenient installations.
The Arab situation has deeply intermingled with the world affairs, because the region is strategically the confluence of all the continents. For the first time in history we see a conflict inside the Security Council that was not triggered by the duel between communism and capitalism but by division of power. Russia might not be in the shoes of the old Soviet Union. It has lost its economic and political contracts with the countries of the former Soviet Union, so it started looking for countries that are geographically far away, especially those who supported it during the Cold War against the West.
However, Russia's stand with a regime that is rejected by the Arab people and governments will not ensure it with the support of the new Syria after Assad.
The West still has the biggest influence in the region. The Israeli role is not clear, expect for its skirmishes with Iran. Israel has made a lot of gains with the regime of Hafez Assad after the 1973 war. The downfall of the current regime in Syria will end the Damascus-Tehran alliance and cancel the role of Hezbollah. Weighing gains and losses, we believe that a new regime in Syria will be better for Russia than the existing one, which is expected to go any time.

Al-Riyadh newspaper