Israel’s increasingly aggressive regional behavior, most recently highlighted by its decision to bomb the capital of Qatar on September 9, will push the Gulf states toward further pragmatic cooperation in their regional policies—particularly in the realms of security and diplomacy. That trend, which has been ongoing since at least the end of the Gulf’s blockade of Qatar in 2021, is a positive outcome for US foreign policy.
As such, the United States, rather than deepening its security commitments to the region, should seize the opportunity to encourage Gulf cooperation as it reduces its own military footprint and shifts its focus to other strategic priorities.
The decision to strike senior Hamas leaders in Doha should not be taken lightly within the broader geopolitical shifts long underway in the Middle East. Following the post-Arab Spring period of the 2010s, and more specifically, the end of the region’s rift with Qatar over its support for Islamist groups that participated in those protests, Arab leaders have gradually worked to repair state-to-state relationships in support of regional stability and economic diversification initiatives. Nowhere is that more prominent in recent years than in the Gulf monarchies.
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