Following Israel’s strike on Hamas targets in Qatar in September, the United States began pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza. But with or without one, Israel will continue to pursue expansive goals, redrawing borders in the West Bank, southern Lebanon, and southwestern Syria in ways that could further fracture its neighbors. The Axis of Resistance is, for all intents and purposes, no longer the grave threat that it once was. In its absence, the Levant is being carved into a pliable “axis of minorities,” with Alawite, Druze, Maronite, Shia, and Sunni camps competing against one another within an expanding Israeli sphere of influence.
