Middle East: Syria's Assad slams Saudi ideology as 'threat to world'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday with Iran's foreign minister that Saudi Arabia's political and religious ideology is "a threat to the world," state television reported.

He was referring to Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim tradition which is predominant in Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's revolt against Assad.

"President Assad warns during his meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of the threat posed by Wahhabi thinking to all the world, not just to the region," the report said.

"The Syrian people and some peoples in the region know how serious the threat posed by Wahhabism is, and everyone must contribute to the confrontation against it and to eradicating it from the root," said Assad, who belongs to the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The comments came amid ongoing tensions between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which are fiercely opposed to each other.

Assad's meeting with Zarif, top diplomat of Syria's chief regional ally Iran, comes less than a week before the so-called Geneva II peace conference, which is aimed at ending the conflict in Syria that has killed 130,000 people in nearly three years.

Read more: Syria's Assad slams Saudi ideology as 'threat to world' - Yahoo News

Syria’s Collapse Would Reverberate in Mideast

If Assad’s regime is toppled, the ensuing power struggle might bring with it revenge killings by or against his minority Shiite Alawite sect, which controls the military and the economy, said Aaron David Miller, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Assad’s closest allies, Iran and Russia, would be the likely losers if power shifts to Assad’s rivals. Lebanon, Jordan and Israel would benefit if Syria’s new leadership ceases to provide a conduit for arms and assistance from Iran to terrorist groups in Lebanon and along the Israeli border, officials and analysts said. 

Whoever the winners, the major concern is, “When is the retribution going to come?” Miller said.
Many Sunnis will want to take revenge against Alawites and Christians who backed Assad, said David Schenker, director of the program on Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“You can have a violent and bloody situation at home that creates continued refugee flows into Jordan and Turkey, and instability and sectarian tension in Lebanon,” where the Shiite Hezbollah militia, long backed by Syria and Iran, will face an emboldened Sunni and Christian population.

Read more: Syria’s Collapse Would Reverberate in Mideast - Businessweek

Syria: Support for the Assad government is rapidly collapsing and the regime's end seems imminent

Bashar al-Assad

As fighting rages in Damascus, and the Assad family that has ruled Syria for four decades struggles for its life against a growing uprising, a picture is emerging of a tight inner Assad group determined to fight its way out of this crisis, even while support for the government is quickly eroding..

President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000 and who friend and opponent alike say appears increasingly detached from reality, is  convinced he is fighting a conspiracy against him and Syria.

Around Assad is a tight circle of family and clan members, and a security establishment staffed mainly by adherents of the Alawite minority to which the Assads belong, a branch of Shi'ite Islam in a country that is three quarters Sunni. 

Support for Assad in outlying cities and even in the capital Damascus is quickly falling apart  and residents say the only sign of any government presence are some tanks and armored personnel carriers stationed on main roads. Traffic and ordinary police are nowhere to be seen. 

In Damascus rebels are now manning many checkpoints, blocking streets and clashing with government troops. This which would have seemed  impossible only a few days ago, say observers.

Curtain time for the Assad family could come very soon.

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