Iran Dismisses Saudis’ Humanitarian Claims on Syria as Political Joke
The Syrian army liberated Nubl and Al-Zahra, two small Shiite-populated towns, after a four-year siege last week on Wednesday, February 3. This strategic victory, which definitely means a tighter grip on Aleppo, has apparently pricked the Saudis’ conscience, triggering first-time attempts to fight terrorism in its worst hit victim, Syria. However, Iranian officials and experts are not only shedding doubts on the decision but reveal quite opposite clandestine intentions on the part of the Saudi kingdom.
The liberations have prompted brisk developments regarding the civil war in Syria and the associated peace talks. Of utmost significance is Saudi Arabia’s offer for the first time to send ground troops to Syria, as part of an international coalition, apparently to fight ISIS, as its defense ministry said on Thursday. “The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against ISIS) may agree to carry out in Syria,” said military spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri during an interview with al-Arabiya TV news on Thursday. Saudi sources have also told the Guardian that thousands of Special Forces could be deployed, probably in coordination with Turkey. The offer was welcomed by Ashton Carter, the US Defense Secretary. According to Al-Jazeera, Carter said increased activity by other countries would make it easier for the United States to accelerate its fight against the Islamic State. “That kind of news is very welcome,” he told reporters on Thursday.
However, the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned against any foreign ground intervention immediately after the reports in a bitter tone. “Any ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorization would amount to an aggression that must be resisted,” Muallem said at a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday.
“Let no one think they can attack Syria or violate its sovereignty because I assure you any aggressor will return to their country in a wooden coffin, whether they be Saudis or Turks,” he warned.
“I don't think they will do what they say about using ground forces, but at the same time, when I look at their crazy decisions made not just in Yemen but in other areas, nothing can be ruled out,” PressTV quoted him as saying.
IRGC commanders say it’s a bluff or worse, a joke
As CNN puts it, Iran’s IRGC commander mocked Saudi Arabia’s declaration that it is prepared to commit ground troops to fight ISIS in war-torn Syria on Saturday.“They claim they will send troops (to Syria), but I don't think they will dare do so,” Major General Ali Jafari told reporters in Tehran. “They have a classic army and history tells us such armies stand no chance in fighting irregular resistance forces.”
“This will be like a coup de grace for them. Apparently, they see no other way but this, and if this is the case, then their fate is sealed,” Jafari added, according to Fars.
A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps says Saudi Arabia’s planned troop deployment to Syria sounds more like a political joke. Brigadier General Hossein Salami said the Saudi Army does not have the potential to change the fight against Takfiri terrorists in Syria.
He called Riyadh’s move nothing more than psychological warfare aimed to dress the country as a fighter against terrorism in order to deviate attention from its atrocities in Yemen. The IRGC commander hailed the Syrian army’s recent gains and described Saudi Arabia as the real loser of the recent victories in liberating north Aleppo towns.
General Mohsen Rezaei also predicted a region-wide war in case of a possible encounter among Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Syria and the subsequent involvement of the US, in a post on his Instagram account. There is no doubt that after any such move by the Saudi government, which takes crazy measures, the entire region would burn in Saudi Arabia’s fire, Rezaei added. Iran would be far from the flames of such a war, Rezaei added.
In Iranian media
In an article on the significance of the recent liberations, Fars News Agency wrote the operation could be a tough blow to Turkey’s logistic aids for the terrorists in Aleppo, as the northern and western outskirts of the province are separated. “In taking back the area around the towns, the Syrian military also regained the supply line between the Azaz border crossing and Aleppo, meaning Turkey can no longer use that border crossing to throw weapons at the terrorist goons in Aleppo. Turkey can no longer declare a no-fly zone over the area either. In addition to the Shiite communities, other big beneficiaries are Kurdish forces and civilians. Without the crossing at Azaz, Turkey is in less of a position to arm terrorist groups to attack the Kurds. True, the Turks have threatened direct intervention, but that’s just cheap talk” read another article published on the English section of FNA.
On Thursday, Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, said Turkey is making “preparations for an armed invasion” of Syria. Moscow “registers a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish Armed Forces for active actions on the territory of Syria,” Konashenkov added.
Another article published on Tabnak, a website close to Mohsen Rezaei, associates the Saudi decision and the US support to the failure of the latest round of Syrian peace talks held in Geneva. According to the article, the talks were moving slowly forward despite sabotage by opposition groups but were terminated unilaterally by the Syrian opposition following the liberation of the two strategic towns of Nubl and Al-Zahra by the Syrian Army. Now that the Saudis see their allied terrorist groups constantly defeated and on the verge of elimination, they are going to implement direct military presence in Syria. The aim is to persuade Russia to accept the conditions put forward by their allied groups during the peace talks and return to the negotiating table.
In an interview with Fararu, Middle East expert Masoud Assadollahi also called the Saudi decision a “hysteric position”, in reaction to their heavy defeat in north Aleppo. “Interestingly, they have stated an intention to deploy troops to fight ISIS because they cannot make it official that they are going there to fight the Syrian Army,” he said. Regarding the US’ welcoming of the news, he said the US wants the religious sedition to deepen in the region, giving a Shiite-Sunni dimension to the war in Syria against terrorism as they did in the Yemeni war. “Also, if a new front opens, it is a new market for American arms as the Saudis will have to spend billions of dollars to purchase new arms which will benefit the United States,” he added.