Posted on 04/11/2008 3:23:24 PM PDT by tedbel
Syria decided on Tuesday to postpone releasing the findings of its investigation into the Feb. 12 assassination of Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mughniyah just as Iranian media outlet, Fars News Agency, reported through its Persian language service that Syrian authorities had detained a Saudi Arabian intelligence official for allegedly participating in the assassination.
According to the Fars report, the Saudi officials Syrian girlfriend bought the two vehicles used in the bombing that killed Mughniyah. We are also told that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a top Saudi national security official, masterminded the operation. While Damascus is refraining from officially implicating Riyadh in the assassination, the Iranians have decided to escalate matters with the Saudis, their chief rivals in the Arab/Muslim world. In fact, the conflicts in both Iraq and Lebanon (and to a lesser degree in the Israeli-Palestinian theatre) represent a struggle between the Saudis and Iranians for influence over the predominantly Arab Middle East. However, this struggle did not begin with the rise of Iran and the Arab Shia when the Baathist regime was ousted in Iraq at the hands of the United States nearly five years ago.
Instead, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry truly began at the foundation of the Islamic republic in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Up until that point, Saudi Arabia saw itself as the virtually unchallenged leader of the Arab/Islamic world. Saudi Arabia claimed unrivaled status as the preeminent nation-state in the largely Sunni Islamic world, given that its founding principle was Islam (albeit Wahhabi) coupled with the fact that that the Kaaba was housed in Mecca while the Mosque of the Prophet was located in Medina. CONTINUE
(Excerpt) Read more at israpundit.com ...
War makes strange allies
Arabs and Israelis share a common enemy — Iran
There is one FReeper who posted before of the convergance and covert cooperation of Israel and Saudi Arabia......Bert
Somewhere there is a command room with Israeli and Saudi officers supervised by Centcom.
If there ia an attack by/on Iran, all will aprticipate.
Absolutely. No one in the Middle East likes Iran. Except Assad and al-Sadr. And even they are unpopular in their own circles (Assad’s bro-in-law plotting a coup until Mughniyeh told on him, Sistani ditching Mookie)
And Hamas.
And Nasrallah
OK, no one likes Iran except Assad, al-Sadr, and the Palestinians.
That about covers everybody.
“OK, no one likes Iran except Assad, al-Sadr, and the Palestinians.”
Al Qaeda doesn’t mind them either as long as they’re targeting Jews and Americans.
On the contrary, they like them just fine. Zawahri’s got relattives among the mullahs there.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.