A Religious War Awaits in the Middle East

Has a religious war, in the same form as the Balkan War-- which started in 1992 and ended in 1995-- practically begun in the Middle East? Due to the fact that using the term “religious war” is usually a bit frightening and has some sensitivity, there has never been a thorough and complete analysis of the political movements and security issues in the region, especially in Syria. However, the fact of the matter is that what is now happening in Syria, Lebanon, and even Iraq, is a prelude to a full-blown religious war that will spread to the rest of the Middle East in the not so distant future. The al-Houla tragedy in Syria was in fact the organized massacre of Syria's Shiites and Alawis, the responsibility of which was unfortunately put on the Syrian government by the Western and Arab media. Even though Syria's security and military system cannot be defended and this system has set up a frightening security atmosphere to govern the Syrian people, the recent massacre of al-Houla residents can be considered as a prelude to a religious war. Al-Houla, which was recently violently attacked by Salafis, lies in the suburbs of the city of Homs and the majority of its population is comprised of Alawis and Shiites. These families resided in the Hayyo-Zahra part of Homs until six months ago, but they were constantly under the violent attack of Salafis and Wahhabis, and a great number of these residents were massacred. Therefore, these families moved to al-Houla in order to escape the nightly attacks of the so-called Free Syrian Army led by Colonel Riad Al-Asaad and the Salafis.

Due to the fact that the Alawis and Shiites are very close to the Syrian governing system in terms of their beliefs, especially the Assad family, they have not once participated in anti-government demonstrations in the past 15 months. Although these two groups had never received any special benefits during Hafez Assad's presidency, Syria's Salafis and Wahhabis, who mostly reside in the cities of Homs, Idlib, and Hama, hold a serious grudge against them. In 1981, Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, who led an uprising in the cities of Homs and Hama during the tenure of Hafez Assad, carried out the assassinations of Alawite individuals in the government. But because conditions in those days were totally different from what we see today and the world was completely bipolar, the Syrian president at the time, Hafez Assad, seriously suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood's Salafis. Therefore, the grudge Syrian Salafis and Wahhabis hold against Shiites and Alawis has a 30-year history, and these Salafis are currently trying to take revenge on Bashar Assad's Alawi government with the financial and logistical aid of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

On the other hand, the US and the West have a unique expertise in recreating historical events of early Islam, and they are now making efforts to pit Shiites and Sunnis against each other, similar to what happened during the cursed governance of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan over Syria. When internal conflicts began in Syria, and despite the fact that there are 18 different groups and sects in Syria, the Salafis, with Saudi and Qatari provocation, focused their attacks on the Shiites and Alawis. The Salafis never attack other groups in Syria, such as Satanists, Yazidis, Druzes, and Christians, and only attack Shiites and Alawis. Their intention is to spread the regional religious war to other countries in the region, such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey, by attacking Shiites and Alawis. Recent sectarian conflicts between Alawis and Salafis from Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in the city of Tripoli in Lebanon can be assessed in the framework of this evil plan. The attack on the Shiite Waqf Diwan in Iraq, and the plan to impeach the Maleki government, are also parts of the scenario to "Balkanize" the Middle East. Even though the different pieces of this puzzle are not yet all clear, it seems that future developments in Syria will guide the region towards a fully organized religious war.

The future plan of the US, the West, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar is to encourage the Salafis to assassinate high-ranking and influential Shiite and Alawi individuals in Syria in order to intensify the confrontation between Shiites and Sunnis. Their goal is to give the US and the West the opportunity to enter Syria militarily, their excuse being that they wish to control the sectarian war, one which would certainly also spread to Lebanon and Iraq. In such conditions, the ground would become prepared to topple the Syrian government and Lebanon's Hezbollah would also eventually be attacked, with the help of Lebanon's anti-resistance forces. At the end of the day, what holds great importance for the US, the West, and Saudi Arabia is breaking the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut axis; eliminating Hezbollah from the security and military scene in Lebanon, and preparing a completely safe environment for the Zionist regime. Therefore, more tension will be seen in Syria in the future and Salafi attacks on Syrian Shiites and Alawis will be intensified.

Considering that Russia has recently changed its stance with regard to Syrian president Bashar Assad, it seems that the Russians will take away their support for Bashar Assad in the future. The intensification of military, political, and media pressure, efforts to defeat the 6-point plan offered by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Syria, the intensification of suicide attacks, and the assassination of high-ranking Syrian officials are all a part of the scenario which will be carried out in this country in the near future.