Syrian President Bashar Assad is widely considered a lapdog of Iran’s ayatollahs. After all, his country has waged war against Israel, offered nuclear assistance to Iran and supported both Hezbollah and Hamas politically. Despite this résumé, however, recent news indicates that Assad just might be willing to distance himself from Iran in return for a larger role in Middle East “peace” negotiations.

“We would like to contribute to stabilizing the region. But we must be included and not isolated, as has been the case until now,” said Assad in an interview with German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. “We are willing to engage in any form of cooperation that is also helpful when it comes to America’s relations with other countries.”

This does not mean, however, that Assad is caving in to Western pressure. Rather, he is attempting to bribe the West using Syria’s strategic influence in the region. He demands that Western leaders recognize Hamas and negotiate with them in return for Syrian cooperation. He also continues to insist that all Arab states immediately cut all ties with Israel.

After he condemned the Israeli invasion of Gaza as a terrorist operation, Assad further stated in his Spiegel interview that he would like to see a “larger German role” in the Middle East peace process. “We can see the feelings of guilt evoked by your past. And we also see they influence Germany’s Israel policies. They shouldn’t anymore.”

In other words, Assad wants Germany to forget the lessons it supposedly learned from the Holocaust and take a more pro-Palestinian stance in its Middle East peace negotiations. Anti-Israel sentiment is already on the rise in Germany; this would mean Israel would be backed even further into a corner.

The Middle East is dividing into two distinct camps. The first, led by Iran, uses Islamic radicalism and terrorism to advance its interests. The second stands against Iran—and is beginning to look to the German-led European Union for support—just as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem looked to Adolf Hitler for support during World War ii.

For more information on these two camps, read “A Mysterious Alliance,” “Will Moderate Arabs Unite Against the Iranian Threat?” and “Is the Syria-Iran Alliance Beginning to Crack?”