Around 100 years of the region’s history is made up of changing camps and shifting alliances and what is being said about the idea of proposing an Arab quartet NATO will be another normal reaction against Iran’s active tripartite alliance.

 

It has been said that the Arab military alliance resembles the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was established in the wake of Soviet expansion. The NATO was the western military power, which confronted the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

 

How can Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Jordan establish a joint military power to confront Iran’s expansion after it expanded its presence to Iraq and Syria and after its influence reached Lebanon and Yemen?

 

These four Arab countries have been allied for a long time now. All of them participate in the Yemen war in varying degrees. The UAE’s army has been fighting alongside the Saudi troops on the ground since the beginning while Jordan has strong military ties with all three countries. However, even with this cooperation, we cannot view this close relation as similar to the NATO in its concept and nature of commitments.

 

Political vacuum

In our region, there has been major political vacuum and imbalance in the regional military power, particularly during the past eight years. What worsened this imbalance is the decline of US’s commitments to the region and signing the nuclear deal with Iran. This deal represents reconciliation and the end of confrontation between the two countries.

 

This vacuum resulted in Iran’s expansion of its influence inside Iraq, engaging in a major military war in Syria and forming – for the first time ever – an army of militias, which it sent to Syria. Iran is also trying hard to keep the war ignited in Yemen by supporting the coup.