Iran warns of regional crisis if Syria falls

AP ^ | 8/27/2011 | By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY

[jonatron]

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's closest ally, Iran, warned Saturday that a power vacuum in Damascus could spark an unprecedented regional crisis while urging President Bashar Assad to listen to some of his people's "legitimate demands." Thousands of protesters, meanwhile, insisted they will defy tanks and bullets until Assad goes.

[struggle]

May Iran fall as well.

[hosepipe]

Lets see.. The U.S. in Iraq... the U.S. in Syria and Israel as an ally of America.. Hmmm...
OH! and a fairly.. almost... friendly Jordan..

Seems the vacuum would be in Irans hegemony..
AND Iran even further cornered..

[UCANSEE2]

Oog: Okay, look. Um, me feels no agenda to meeting and vacuum in leadership position, so me has composed 12 point plan for good happy success.

[Carry_Okie]

We should be dropping weapons and ammunition into Iran for public use.

Remember the Liberator!

[UCANSEE2]

“the Arab League decided to send its leader, Nabil Elaraby, to Damascus to seek a solution. In a statement, the league expressed “grave concern” over the bloodshed in Syria.”

The Arab League.... I always wondered what AFL stood for.

When will they play the NFL?

[denydenydeny]

The crisis will be theirs.

[familyop]

Iran’s going to make trouble anyway. We should have taken care of business there a long time ago.

[Taylor42]

In my opinion Reagan’s greatest mistake was not taking care of this problem 30 years ago. None of my “history” expert friends have provided a reasonable explanation for this lack of action.

[odds]

Regional crisis for whom?!
They’ve been having ‘regional crisis’ for yrs now!

[cashless]

Shouldn't the title to the article have been, “Iran scared $hitless they will lose a closer base of operations against Israel”. Seems about right to me. They do not care for Muslims since they kill their own countrymen to prop up a regime that is increasingly unpopular.

[odds]

Exactly.

“President Reagan tried also. He sent a cake and a Qur’an to Khomeini, but Khomeini fed the cake to dogs and willfully ignored president Reagan’s proposal of friendship.”

>>>>”An Open Letter to Barack Obama” - May 24, 2008<<<<

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/05/open-letter-to-barack-obama.html

[FormerACLUmember]

“Iran warns of regional crisis if Syria falls”

Absolutely yes. The regional crisis will be in Iran, the country ruled by the evil Mullahs since 1979, when the Second Worst President in American History put these thugs in power.

[Shadow44]

The only people more nervous than Assad in the Middle East are Khameni and Ahmadinejad.

[odds]

Actually the latter aren’t.

[Zhang Fei]

If the root and branch extermination of Syria’s 1m+ Alawites (Bashar Assad’s co-religionists) is considered a crisis, Iran’s spokesperson is correct. Sunni theologists have fulminated against the Alawites (who celebrate both Easter and Christmas) for a thousand years, urging every right-thinking Muslim to kill them at every opportunity:

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Mainstream Muslims, Sunni and Shi’i alike, traditionally disregarded ‘Alawi efforts at dissimulation; they viewed ‘Alawis as beyond the pale of Islam - as non-Muslims. Hamza ibn ‘Ali, who saw the religion’s appeal lying in its perversity, articulated this view: “The first thing that promotes the wicked Nusayri is the fact that all things normally prohibited to humans - murder, stealing, lying, calumny, fornication, pederasty - is permitted to he or she who accepts [’Alawi doctrines].” Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111), the Thomas Aquinas of Islam, wrote that the ‘Alawis “apostatize in matters of blood, money, marriage, and butchering, so it is a duty to kill them.”

Ahmad ibn Taymiya (1268-1328), the still highly influential Sunni writer of Syrian origins, wrote in a fatwa (religious decision) that “the Nusayris are more infidel than Jews or Christians, even more infidel than many polytheists. They have done greater harm to the community of Muhammad than have the warring infidels such as the Franks, the Turks, and others. To ignorant Muslims they pretend to be Shi’is, though in reality they do not believe in God or His prophet or His book.” Ibn Taymiya warned of the mischief their enmity can do: “Whenever possible, they spill the blood of Muslims. They are always the worst enemies of the Muslims.” In conclusion, he argued that “war and punishment in accordance with Islamic law against them are among the greatest of pious deeds and the most important obligations” for a Muslim. From the fourteenth century on, Sunnis used the term “Nusayri” to mean pariah.

‘Alawis had had no recognized position in the millet (sectarian) system of the Ottoman Empire. An Ottoman decree from 1571 notes that “ancient custom” required ‘Alawis to pay extra taxes to the authorities and justified this on the grounds that ‘Alawis “neither practice the fast [of Ramadan] nor the ritual prayers, nor do they observe any precepts of the Islamic religion.” Sunnis often saw food produced by ‘Alawis as unclean, and did not eat it. According to Jacques Weulerrse, “no ‘Alawi would dare enter a Muslim mosque. Formerly, not one of their religious leaders was able to go to town on the day of public prayer [Friday] without risk of being stoned. Any public demonstration of the community’s separate identity was taken as a challenge [by the Sunnis].”

Sunnis were not alone in reading ‘Alawis out of Islam-mainstream Shi’is did likewise. And ‘Alawis in turn saw both groups as deficient.

Sunni heresiographers excoriated Alawi beliefs and viewed the Alawis as disbelievers (kuffar) and idolaters (mushrikun). Twelver Shi’i heresiographers were only slightly less vituperative and regarded the Alawis as ghulat, “those who exceed” all bounds in their deification of Ali. The Alawis, in turn, held Twelver Shi’is to be muqassira, “those who fall short” of fathoming Ali’s divinity.

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http://www.danielpipes.org/191/the-alawi-capture-of-power-in-syria

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In 1970, then-Air Force General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a “Correctionist Movement” in the Ba’ath Party.[27] His coming to power has been compared to “an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries.”[24]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alawi

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‘Alawi doctrines date from the ninth century A.D. and derive from the Twelver or Imami branch of Shi’i Islam (the sect that predominates in Iran). In about A.D. 859, one Ibn Nusayr declared himself the bab (”gateway to truth”), a key figure in Shi’i theology. On the basis of this authority, Ibn Nusayr proclaimed a host of new doctrines which, to make a long story short, make ‘Alawism into a separate religion. According to Ibn Kathir (d. 1372), where Muslims proclaim their faith with the phrase “There is no deity but God and Muhammad is His prophet,” ‘Alawis assert “There is no deity but ‘Ali, no veil but Muhammad, and no bab but Salman.” ‘Alawis reject Islam’s main tenets; by almost any standard they must be considered non-Muslims.

Some ‘Alawi doctrines appear to derive from Phoenician paganism, Mazdakism and Manicheanism. But by far the greatest affinity is with Christianity. ‘Alawi religious ceremonies involve bread and wine; indeed, wine drinking has a sacred role in ‘Alawism, for it represents God. The religion holds ‘Ali, the fourth caliph, to be the (Jesus-like) incarnation of divinity. It has a holy trinity, consisting of Muhammad, ‘Ali, and Salman al-Farisi, a freed slave of Muhammad’s. ‘Alawis celebrate many Christian festivals, including Christmas, New Year’s, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, and Palm Sunday. They honor many Christian saints: St. Catherine, St. Barbara, St. George, St. John the Baptist, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Mary Magdalene. The Arabic equivalents of such Christian personal names as Gabriel, John, Matthew, Catherine, and Helen, are in common use. And ‘Alawis tend to show more friendliness to Christians than to Muslims.

For these reasons, many observers - missionaries especially - have suspected the ‘Alawis of a secret Christian proclivity. Even T. E. Lawrence described them as “those disciples of a cult of fertility, sheer pagan, antiforeign, distrustful of Islam, drawn at moments to Christianity by common persecution.” The Jesuit scholar Henri Lammens unequivocally concluded from his research that “the Nusayris were Christians” and their practices combine Christian with Shi’i elements.

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http://www.danielpipes.org/191/the-alawi-capture-of-power-in-syria

[fella]

If Iran is against it then it’s got to be a good thing for the world in general.

[Eleutheria5]

Never let a good crisis go to waste.

[MasterGunner01]

With luck, Turkey will attack Syria and Iran to reestablish the Ottoman Empire. Pass the popcorn for this one — where the various Muslim sects try to murder each other in the greatest numbers. The Religion of Peace is so . . . peaceful?

[Eleutheria5]

I’m sure the Egyptians will be equally bent on reestablishing the Mamluk empire. Maybe the Saudis will find someone who’s a direct descendant of Mohammed who claims to be the 12th Imam, and join the donnybrook.