Syria Accuses Saudi of Being behind Uprising
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syria has lashed out at Saudi leaders, accusing them of being behind the country's more than two-year armed uprising, according to statements published on Wednesday.
"The violence in Syria is being caused by Saudi arms, Saudi money and terrorists linked to Saudi Arabia," said Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi.
Zohbi also said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had "Syrian blood on his hands".
On Tuesday, the prince said during a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that his country would help the rebels defend themselves.
He urged the international community to act to bring an end to the regime of President Bashar Assad, telling Kerry the civil war had turned into "genocide".
Speaking in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, Faisal also slammed the Hizbullah and Iran for starting a "foreign invasion" of Syria.
Hizbullah, which supports Assad and is backed by Iran, has entered into Syria's fighting in full force, helping the regime secure advances in the central province of Homs and near Damascus.
Reacting to Faisal's comments, Zohbi said: "Saudi diplomacy is faltering... and it has no place in a political solution for Syria".
He also said Faisal's calls for action were just "dreams".
Meanwhile Syria's ruling party mouthpiece Al-Baath newspaper described Faisal as "crazy".
"Faisal's statements... prove not only that he has become senile and out of touch with reality, but that the Wahhabi regime is falling apart," said Al-Baath.
Saudi Arabia practices a puritanical form of Wahhabi Islam and has some of the world's most sweeping restrictions on freedom of religion.
A report titled "Convoy of martyrs in the Levant" by U.S. think-tank Flashpoint Partners detailed the deaths of 280 foreign fighters who had joined Syria's rebels.
The Saudi contingent is the biggest after the Libyan, according to the report.
Though Damascus and Riyadh once enjoyed good relations, ties collapsed after the anti-Assad revolt erupted in March 2011.
Most of Syria's rebels, like the Wahhabi regime, are Sunni. Assad belongs to the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
26 June 2013, 15:48
02
They arent wrong. When the demonstrations started in dir3a, they were purely syrian, and when they spread, they were purely syrian. When the official opposition was formed with men in suits, that was when the uprising was hijacked, around that time. Not only by saudi arabia but of course the US as well. Instead of responding arrogantly with violence against the demonstrations, bashar could have respected that not everyone loved him and are pleased with his rule. Not only bashar, but his entire entourage. Had he turned syria in to a just state instead of one were people get tortured for not beeing baathist supporters, then he could have foiled their evil plans. So who is to blame? Only the syrian people are innocent. Bashar, abdullah, obama, mukhabarat, baath, official syrian opposition men in suits, they all have spilled syrian blood. When the Ksa accuses the syrian regime, i feel disgusted and when the syrian regime accuses the Ksa i feel disgusted. Hypocrites.
26 June 2013, 18:15
00
This is all a ploy to exercise power amassed by the gulf countries in order to spread sectarianism and this is obvious. Coupled with the US's aim of subduing Iranian and Russian/Chinese influence over the middle east and the venality of Arab monarchs, our current predicament was produced. The sooner the parochial heads of gulf countries are replaced by more modern leaders the sooner the realization that the US controls almost every aspect of their countries and their prosperity.
