Why Does Iran Support Syria?
-There is no doubt that the Bashar Assad government is an authoritarian system. The Syrian regime has also accepted that it is a one-party system and that power is exclusively in the hands of the Baath Party.
-The Syrian regime has accepted that reforms must be made, as some constitutional laws and regulations have changed and perhaps some other reforms are also needed.
-But the choice now in Syria is between two options. The first option is the existence of a system which, despite all its faults, supports the resistance. The second option is a system with individuals who are hand-in-hand with Israel and are lackeys of the West’s lackeys (Saudi Arabia and Qatar), which are the Takfiri Salafis who have no mercy on any Muslims.
-We have witnessed their crimes, including the exhumation of Hujr ibn Adi, one of the Prophet’s companions. Therefore, these issues indicate that between two evils, the lesser evil must be chosen; although this choice does not mean total acceptance of their behavior.
-Iran’s support of Bashar Assad can be analyzed from different angles. One of them is the issue of Iran’s national interests, because any government which would replace the present one would certainly be Iran’s enemy.
-Due to its contradiction with the previous regime, the regime that would replace the present government in Syria would pursue Shiite-Sunni differences and would intensify its hostility towards the Shiites.
-The fact that some opposition groups in Syria have named themselves the Yazid ibn Muawiyah Battalion well indicates that the positions taken are not religious, but rather totally vengeful; otherwise, exhumation is forbidden in all Islamic sects and they should not have done such a thing.
-Therefore, the reason behind such an action is that they are basically not committed to religion and take these measures as a sign of political hostility.
-Many of these measures contradict the religion. They have, hitherto, cut the heads of more than 2000 Shiites, which can only be considered as political enmity.
-There is now one serious and important mistake, and that is that it is said that the Syrian regime is Shiite, while this is not true. The regime in Syria is not only not Shiite, but it also isn’t Alawi either. Although Bashar Assad might be Alawi, but the regime in Syria is a Baathist secular regime, thus, these crimes are committed in Syria based on faulty assumptions.
-The point that it is said that Iran’s support of Syria is a religious support is totally wrong. Iran’s support of Syria is a political support, based on the issue of Syria’s alliance with the resistance front.
-Hence, the assumptions are all wrong and the results are reached on such false assumptions.
-Nevertheless, Iran’s national interests necessitate showing supporting for the Assad regime.
-With regard to the religious dimensions, it must be said that Assad’s regime seeks convergence while his opponents pursue divergence. This divergence is in contradiction with the concepts and goals of our revolution which are based on unity.
-With regard to the issue of alliance and Iran’s status in the region, it should be mentioned that the downfall of Assad’s regime will, to some extent, damage our regional status and ultimately it will be to our disadvantage and damage our national interests.
-Therefore, all these issues direct us towards taking such a political position.
-The West had predicted that when the crisis began in Syria, the regime of Bashar Assad would not last more than two months.
-Then the two-month waiting period became three months, and they have changed their positions many times. This shows that the predictions of the West about Assad’s social status are totally wrong and Assad enjoys a good social status, and if it was otherwise, he would have been overthrown by now.
-No political regime in the world can resist the people’s determination, unless it enjoys a vast social base.
-The recent victories of the Syrian army show that, at the present time, the conditions are changing to the benefit of the Syrian regime. Disputes inside the opposition, due to their continuous losses, and also their conflicts with the Turkish army indicate that the opposition front is a disunited front and is faced with problems and right now the majority of the predictions show that the government of Syria is winning.
-At the present time, no one predicts that the regime in Syria might be overthrown. Many of the westerners are now reaching the conclusion that the issue of the downfall of the regime is no longer applicable and the crisis must be resolved through a political solution. This conclusion has been reached based on the situation on the ground which has changed to the benefit of the Syrian regime.
-There is no doubt that Iran’s position with regard to Syria has certainly had high costs.
-But could these costs have been prevented? I don’t believe that we could have prevented them. The assumption that the coalition formed in the region against Iran is the result of Iran’s position with regard to Syria is wrong. In my opinion, Iran’s position regarding Syria is only used as an excuse.
-When has Saudi Arabia even been Iran’s ally? Can Turkey, which is part of NATO, be Iran’s ally? And although Qatar has had some relations with Iran, the biggest US bases are located in this country.
-Thus, I believe that the coalition formed against Iran is related to a collection of new political circumstances, the most important of which is the issue of the Islamic awakening in the region which has threatened US interests in the region.
-The US attempts to transform the contradictions of these countries with the West into domestic differences, where Shiite-Sunnis differences have been proposed. These countries are playing their roles in the religious divergence; as they had been active before in this regard and within the framework of US policies. Today, they pursue these policies more openly.
-Therefore, the present existing conditions are the natural results of the previous ones, and today’s events and news have only made this alliance and coalition against Iran more obvious.