Alwaght- Late on December 2015, the US and Russia have commenced their diplomatic efforts in a bid to decide on the ways of fighting the terror group ISIS and settle the Syrian crisis.

Pursuing their attempts, they have referred the ISIS as well as Syrian crisis cases to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and adopted a couple of resolutions in their way to take practical steps toward de-escalation and resolving the West Asia crisis.

The UNSC has passed several resolutions to dry up the financial and military resources of ISIS and to punish any group or country which would directly or indirectly support the terrorist group.� The UNSC's adoption of resolution 2254 as a road map for resolving Syria's crisis and binding all of the relevant countries to the international consensuses could help push a serious shift in the course of West Asia's developments.

Though the optimism for West Asia crisis settlement saw a surge as a result of serious measures taken by the UNSC, led by the US and Russia, the happening of two events, namely the killing of Zahran Alloush, the leader of Jaysh al-Islam terror group in Syria and execution of the Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, could change the equations in the short run. This article's aim is to shed light on the most significant effects left by death of Zahran Alloush and Sheikh al-Nimr on the West Asia region's upcoming developments, including the Syrian crisis and the regional groupings. The overarching influences could be elaborated on three major categories:

Intensification of the region's groupings and Syria's crisis

The death of Jaysh al-Islam's leader Zahran Aloush on December 25, 2015 in Damascus' suburb Eastern Ghouta, as one warlord of the most significant and well-organized anti-Syrian government insurgent groups under direct support of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar bloc, has taken place in a time that not only Jaysh al-Islam has been invited to j o i n the Saudi-led counter-terrorism Islamic military coalition but also Alloush's representative was put as head of the supreme supervisory council for the negotiation delegation of anti-central Syrian government opposition.

The killing was condemned by the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and it has marred greatly the peace negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition forces.

In addition to death of Zahran Alloush, Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr on January 2nd �2016, could leave a huge impact on heightened disputes between the bloc of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah and the opposing bloc of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. It is likely that each of these sides would attempt to make further moves in the Syrian crisis in order to inflict heavy blows on the other side.

Without doubt one of the possible choices available for Riyadh would be the strengthening further the forces of Jaysh al-Islam, Jaish al-Fatah and Ahrar ash-Sham militant groups and even ISIS. On the opposite side, Tehran would be driven to intensify supports for its backed forces in the Syrian conflict. All in all, the execution of Sheikh Nimr along with killing of Alloush by the Russian fighter jets would delay the peace process in Syria, as it, in the short term, would bring about intensification of the groupings.

Expansion of West Asia's ethnic and religious tensions

Undoubtedly, one of the most important outcomes of Sheikh Nimr's execution beside death of Zahran Alloush is the heightening of the ethno-religious conflicts in West Asia as represented by Shiite-Sunni disputes. Overstating Alloush's killing by the Iran-Russia front, Saudi Arabia struggles to paint the incident as part of a religious conflict with Iran, portraying Iran as a threat for the security of the region's Sunni Arabs. On the other hand, a harsh reaction of Shiite Muslims to the execution of Sheikh Nimr the leader of Saudi Arabia's Shiites by the Al Saud regime would unconsciously lead to escalated tensions between the region's Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Saudi Arabia's struggles to push the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Sudan to j o i n severing diplomatic relations with Iran, have signaled rising of ethno-religious tensions in West Asia region mostly pursued by Riyadh through building it on a� Sunni-Shiite and Arab-Ajam basis.

The Saudi officials are seeking to exploit the alleged Iran's interventions in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs and to highlight recent attacks on Saudi embassy and consulate in Tehran and Mashhad in order to provoke regional and international public opinions against Iran. As a first measure, the Saudis have taken advantage of the sports contests as excuses to realize their political objectives. They insisted that their sports teams would not hold plays with Iranian teams on Iran's ground due to "lack of security."

Also, as a preliminary sign for escalation of ethnic tensions in West Asia, Kuwait has set to expel three Iranian diplomats on charges of spying, as the Arab state has recalled its envoy from Tehran. Furthermore, Bahrain and Sudan have cut off diplomatic ties with Iran. Generally, fueling disputes between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the region, Saudi Arabia is looking forward to lead a unified Sunni Muslim front against the Shiite Iran. So the Iranian officials need to follow the issue with a greater caution and refrain from involving in the polarizations intended by the kingdom.

Pressures mounting on the US State Department about its regional allies' actions in West Asia

In reaction to Zahran Alloush's death, the spokesman for the US State Department John Kirby has cautioned against intensification and protraction of the Syrian crisis, and in a first reaction to execution of Sheikh Nimr, Kirby added that such an act would result in pushed up ethnic tensions in the West Asian region.

Kirby has called on the Saudi leaders to consider the human rights and respect the right for holding peaceful protests in their country. In a time that Washington in past few months, especially in the late days of December 2015, has seemingly put a lot of diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between different sides engaged in the domestic Syrian crisis and to fight ISIS, the licentious and irrational behaviors of Riyadh and Ankara have caused pressures to build up on the US.

Also, the Turkish act of shooting down the Russian SU-24 bomber has stirred up another political crisis in the global scene, making the US receive heavy pressures for its regional ally's action. In fact, the US Department of State has been sent confused by the fresh Turkey and Saudi Arabia measures in the region.

So far, many of the US senators have warned against the behavior of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the US' degree of commitments to its regional allies in West Asia. In the present conditions, it seems that Washington is facing serious criticism for Turkey and Saudi Arabia's behavior and in near future it would be likely that the US mends its strategy about the West Asian developments.

By Alwaght