Saudi-Iran dispute: Those caught in their proxy wars will pay highest price
Towards the end of 2015, there seemed to be a tiny bit of promise that Saudi Arabia's Sunni monarchy and Iran's Shia government, so long at violent loggerheads in a series of proxy wars in the region, may actually be cajoled by international powers to work together towards a common policy on Syria.
Yet only two days into 2016 and that shred of flimsy hope was well and truly crushed with the announcement by Saudi Arabia that it had executed the charismatic and controversial Saudi Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr Baqr Al Nimr.
Sheikh Nimr had been a constant critic of Saudi Arabia. He is from the Kingdom's eastern province which has a large Shia population in the otherwise predominantly puritanical Sunni country.
He and his son were imprisoned and sentenced to death for their alleged role in anti government demonstrations between 2011-12.
Sheikh Nimr was arrested and also went on hunger strike, with human rights groups saying he was showing signs of having been tortured.
He was sentenced to death in 2014 for calling for "foreign meddling" in Saudi Arabia - coded language for trying to bring Iranian influence inside the Saudi Kingdom. His son is still on death row as he was a minor when arrested.
In a region where so many of the key conflicts are viewed through the prism of the titanic conflict of interests and influence between these two political foes - it's hardly surprising that everything is presented in a sectarian light; from the war between the Saudi backed government in Yemen and the Shia Houthi rebels supported by Iran to the two country's support for opposing sides in Syria's horrific civil war and Hezbollah's financing and arming by Tehran.
The cruel irony is that up until the execution of Sheikh Nimr the signs of fleeting co-operation between the two sides looked possible.
Riyadh had dropped its long held opposition to Iran joining Vienna peace talks on Syria, and Iran had toned down its strong criticism of how the Saudi government had handled the disaster at the Hajj ceremony in which so many Iranian pilgrims had been killed.
Now that has ended those that will pay the highest price in this contest between Saudi Arabai and Iran are those countries like Syria and Yemen who are caught in the middle of their proxy wars.