Panorama: Syria faces big challenges; Possible Israel–Hezbollah war looms

Arab newspapers last week addressed the challenges facing Syria, the risk of renewed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and developments related to the Muslim Brotherhood issue.

Major Challenges Confront Syria One Year After the Fall of the Regime

Beginning with the Syrian issue, An-Nahar newspaper writes that Syria “is entering a new phase characterized by attempts to rebuild the state and restore its international relations, amid major challenges related to internal security, the presence of foreign fighters in sensitive units, and the urgent need for economic and social reconstruction, all while armed violence persists and most areas still lack full stability.”

The newspaper also focused on the expansion of Turkish dominance in Syria after the regime’s collapse, reviewing its military, political, demographic, and economic dimensions, as well as its role in reshaping the balance of power on the Syrian stage.

Will War Return Between Israel and Hezbollah?

Al-Arab (London) discussed the possibility of renewed confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, noting that Israel has “violated the ceasefire dozens of times” since the last war, while Hezbollah has refrained from responding—something the paper sees as an Israeli attempt to drag the group into another round of war.

The article also discussed the widening “gap between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government,” due to the party’s refusal to surrender its weapons—something that could, according to the paper, trigger an internal confrontation or a conflict with Israel.

The newspaper believes that the escalation goes beyond the issue of Hezbollah’s or Hamas’s weapons, arguing that “the real project” is pushing the region toward a path that serves the vision of “Greater Israel,” especially after the changes brought about by the recent war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, followed by Israel’s control over large parts of territory.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the ‘Axis of Resistance’… Partners in Ruin

Asharq Al-Awsat wrote about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to sign an executive order designating the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as “terrorist organizations.” The paper noted that “the decision, which formally linked the parent organization to its armed branches, is nothing more than a delayed acknowledgment of what the region has long known and repeatedly told the world: the Brotherhood is not a misunderstood reformist movement, but a transnational system that invests, along with other allies, in chaos as a survival strategy, threatening the foundations of national states in the Arab and Islamic worlds.”

The newspaper argued that “the most important aspect of Trump’s decision is that it coincides with two years since the earthquake of the Gaza war and the deep repercussions of the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation on the entire region, particularly regarding the weakening of prospects for comprehensive peace, which the U.S. administration is trying to revive from a state of clinical death.”

It added that the decision is not an isolated American move but an acknowledgment that the Brotherhood constitutes a structural obstacle to any regional re-engineering. This deadlock grows more complicated due to the convergence between the Muslim Brotherhood and the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which—despite sectarian differences—are fighting a shared battle for survival against a common enemy: the stable Arab nation-state.

ANHA