Who benefits from the U.S.-led bombing of IS forces?

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The United States and its allies along with several Arab states declared war this week on the radical movement known as Islamic State. This extremist Sunni group occupies large swaths of eastern Syria and western Iraq and its ranks are swelling with an influx of jihadists from many of the countries in the U.S.-led coalition.

The allies believe that Islamic State poses a serious long-term threat and they are determined to degrade and destroy the group.

With all the beheading of Westerners and the massacre of minorities, it's hard to quarrel with that, but there are some unintended consequences. Take a look at who is benefiting most from the coalition's aerial bombardment of IS forces in Syria.

Until Islamic State came along, the regime of Bashar al-Assad was regarded by many as the most hateful force in Syria. Not anymore. Today, the Syrian President and his military forces are being given an international bye as the world focuses instead on the extremist Sunni movement.

The regime is so pleased that it's turning a blind eye to the daily attacks being carried out by foreign aircraft on Syrian soil. Instead of scrambling their own fighter jets and manning anti-aircraft weapons, Syrian forces stand by and watch the attacks taking place, cheering the assault on the group that has been the regime's most successful enemy.

Even attacks this week on Syrian oil refineries that had been taken over by IS forces failed to get a rise out of Damascus.

Instead, one Syrian official boasted to a Damascus newspaper this week that "the U.S. military leadership is now fighting in the same trenches with the Syrian generals, in a war on terrorism inside Syria."

The hardest thing for Mr. al-Assad this week was trying not to look too happy.

This is not what Washington had in mind when it set out to take on Islamic State. Leaving the Assad regime alone, however, is the price the United States must pay to gain Syria's tacit support for the operation as well as the blessing of Iran and Russia, the regime's biggest backers.

Indeed, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview in New York this week that he had delivered a message to Mr. al-Assad on behalf of Washington, assuring him that the Syrian government was not the target of U.S.-led air strikes.

Iran too is benefiting from the current war on the Sunni terrorists. Were it not for Islamic State posing a threat to other nations, the government of Iran would still likely be facing a growing escalation of sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

Instead, Iran can portray itself as a partner in fighting the scourge of terrorism and now appears poised to sign a compromise nuclear agreement that may satisfy the UN Security Council's permanent five members, but will drive Israel around the bend.

At the end of the day, the U.S. coalition needs Iran to help organize the forces on the ground to take on the Islamic State in Iraq, and to influence the Assad regime in Syria, which may well produce the ground forces that can most effectively take on the IS militants in that country.

Hezbollah too appears to be enjoying the attention being placed on IS. Suddenly the militant Shia group from Lebanon that has been helping prop up the Assad regime is seen by many as a safeguard against the more brutal Sunni extremists.

Even al-Qaeda is likely to be an unintended winner. Until now Islamic State has been a rival for influence and for gaining the support of all-important foreign jihadists. If Islamic State is taken down, even just a notch or two, al-Qaeda will again be the more influential group.

Concern over the possibility of al-Qaeda benefiting may have been what propelled the United States also to attack the al-Qaeda-linked Khorasan group and the Nusra Front the first night of bombing in Syria.

President Assad was no doubt pleased at that development too. After Islamic State, the Nusra Front has been the regime's greatest adversary.