I'm John Batchel with Johnson Shanzer, Executive Director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy,

and helping me understand how the October 7th war is changing.

It changed immediately when the Assad regime fell and Assad fled to Moscow, now unknowable.

It's something called HTS, which is the old Nusra front, which is the old al-Qaeda,

looks to be in Damascus in some fashion in charge at gunpoint.

However, there's a man named Al Jalani.

He has another name.

He keeps changing his names as he changes his clothes, who's said to be the unelected leader.

Israel has taken certain parts of Syria, the Golan Heights and the DMZ, in order to secure its border.

And yet, Israel does not want a new rogue state on its border. Ungoverned space is even worse,

a new Afghanistan or new Libya. Is there a reason to believe that this can be resolved,

Jonathan, or is Israel settling in for a long wait? Well, I think right now we are waiting to see

whether the new leaders of al-Qaeda have truly, or new Al-Qaeda leaders of Syria, perhaps more accurately, whether they have truly opted for the path of pragmatism and perhaps even moderation.

Right now, what we're seeing is a new regime that is not interested in

conflict with Israel. I think they're interested in stabilizing the country. The big question really

is whether this is a mistake for Israel to allow al-Qaeda to establish a foundation in a neighboring

country, right? Having an al-Qaeda state on Israel's border is not in

Israel's interest. But then again, waging a new war against a new power backed by Turkey also

doesn't seem like it's in Israel's interest. So at least now, I think the Israelis are seeing

this as an opportunity to rest, to perhaps gather up new forces, to prepare defenses, and to watch very carefully what is happening in Syria.

I get the sense in Israel right now that they're grappling with really the question of the surge in power on the part of Turkey,

right? Because Turkey stands behind this Al-Qaeda group that has taken over in Syria, HTS,

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