its national life. today that danger is gone. the armies from israel's main strategic adversaries, iraq, syria, egypt, are now in disarray while the israeli armed forces have become the region's superpower, in a league ahead of all the rest. more importantly, egypt, saudi arabia, and the smaller gulf states now find themselves in a tacit alliance with israel against iran. second, israel's major enemies are under greater pressure than ever before. iran and hezbollah have committed themselves to defend the assad regime in syria, a daunting challenge in the long run given that assad represents the alawites who comprise under 15% of syria. reports suggest that iran is bleeding resources and hezbollah losing hundred of fighters in syria. watching these conflicts in syria, iraq, yemen, and libya, one cannot but think that israel's enemies, shiite and