Ran Baratz, former adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"The Turks brought down Assad. That was not to our benefit. Assad was more convenient for us." "Assad was not aggressive, and he was a very convenient conduit for proxies, for Hezbollah."
Assessment
A former Netanyahu adviser publicly states that Assad's fall was a loss for Israel because he was a passive, useful neighbor. This directly contradicts the official Israeli posture of welcoming the dictator's ouster. The remark exposes a realpolitik calculation: a weak, predictable enemy was preferable to the chaos and unknown actors that replaced him. Watch for whether this view gains traction inside the security establishment or remains a fringe admission.