In his June 13, 2015 column in the official Jordanian daily Al-Rai, former information minister Saleh Al-Qallab blamed the Arabs for Iran's expansion in the region from Iraq to Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. It is this helplessness and silence in the face of Iraq's occupation by Iran, he wrote, that has led to the current situation, in which Iran is occupying several Arab countries. After occupying Iraq, Iran is now striving to divide Syria and to establish there a pro-Shi'ite mini-state, he said, and this could impact the entire region. He concluded by calling on the Arabs to foment internal wars in Iran in order to thwart its regional sectarian plans.
Saleh Al-Qallab (Source: Yemen-press.com, April 16, 2015)
The following are excerpts from Al-Qallab's column:
"Despite the many important issues with which the Arabs are preoccupied, there is no justification for the fact that Syria is being torn apart in this way, as they watch from the sidelines... even though they know that the division of this central country will impact not [just] its neighbors, but the entire Arab region. If they do not act swiftly before time runs out, this collapse will have a domino effect...
"The Arabs, both nearby and distant, have shown grave weakness by distancing themselves from Iraq after it was occupied in 2003. Iran was the one who benefited from this, when it hastened to fill this vacuum until it gradually occupied that entire Arab country. [Today,] removing [Iran] from [Iraq] will involve a years-long effort, and require a unified Arab position, because those who have been harmed [by the Iranian occupation] include not only the Iraqi people, but the entire Arab ummah.
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"Had the Arabs not remained silent regarding Iran's expansion to Iraq and its occupation of it [which continues] to this day, Iran would not have been able to continue to expand and occupy Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon in the same way. The Iranians interpreted this [Arab] silence as impotence, and went so far as to speak of the subordination of four Arab capitals - Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sana'a - under the Iranian capital Tehran.[1]
"All the Arabs heard... Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Miqdad's [June 13, 2015] boast that the Assad regime relied on support from Iran and its forces in order to maintain its steadfastness. It is clear that [Iranian] President Hassan Rohani's statement that Iran would continue to support the Syrian regime to the end remains in force, and reverberates across the Arab [countries]. This support, which is frequently reiterated by Iran, is [actually] support for Iran's [own] vital interests in that country and in the Arab region - not support for [the interests of] Syria or the Syrian regime.
"Syria is marching towards division and disintegration. Bashar Al-Assad, who has submitted to Iran's wishes... is clinging to his seat until the end, while the Syrian people, who have lost hundreds of thousands of their sons and whose cities, villages, and towns have all been destroyed, cannot agree to any compromise or solution that will leave this regime in place. This pulling in two opposite directions [by the regime and by the people] will ultimately lead to [Syria's] division and to the emergence of the sectarian mini-state that the Iranians seek - one that complements the Hizbullah state and will reach from Damascus to Latakia...
"Therefore, in the absence of a serious Arab position to pressure Iran by causing it to be preoccupied with internal conflicts like those with which the Arabs were preoccupied during [the recent period, which was] the most difficult and dangerous period in their modern history, we will surely soon awaken [to a reality of] more than one Syrian mini-state, and, ultimately, find that our region has become a sectarian crazy-quilt. This is precisely what Israel wants and what it has aspired to from the time of its founding."
Endnote:
[1] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 4530, "Iranian Analyst Mohammad Sadeq Al-Hosseini: Saudi Arabia Is on the Verge of Extinction; We Are the New Sultans of the Mediterranean, the Gulf, and the Red Sea,"September 24, 2014.
