Ajit Randeniya

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The current US, British and French led attack on the Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad and his government, carried out with financial help from the corrupt sheikdoms of Saudi Arabia and Qatar is in fact a part of the psychological warfare (PSYWAR) aimed at Iran, the next military target of the neocon-captured American foreign policy apparatus.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Adding to the sinister nature of this conspiracy, two weeks ago, the neocon-Arab collective received support from their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”partner in crimeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in many ways, Al Qaeda: the new leader of Al Qaeda, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ayman al-Zawahri ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ issued a statement urging Muslims in the region to support the uprising in Syria. Also, Khaled Meshal, chief of the politburo of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas whose political and spiritual roots lie with the Sunni Arab Muslim Brotherhood has endorsed the Syrian revolt; in doing so, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Hamas ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ bit the hand that fedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ after enjoying President AssadƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s hospitality for 13 years since they were expelled from Jordan!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For those who closely follow Middle East politics or world affairs in general, this evil-union was not surprising at all: it is clear as day that the cornerstone of the false (US) flag neocon Middle East policy and strategy is to eliminate the fervently pro-Palestinian, strong (but not-so-smart), Arab leaders through invasion and subterfuge.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The parallel, overarching aim is to pulverise Arab populations using ethnic, religious, linguistic and other divisions, and to radicalise them, hoping they would resort to extremism and terrorism: they got rid of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi using this strategy, and Iran appears to be the preferred next stop.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Planning to intervene in Syria, and in Iran including the use of psychological operations (psyop), provocative rhetoric and stoking the United Nation agencies appear to be well under way. The corporate media has been unleashed to wage the usual war propaganda blitz aimed at preparing the American people for the coming conflict; phony atrocity stories and conspiracy theories regarding IranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s nuclear ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ambitionsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ are being beamed daily to American, British and French living rooms.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The evil neocon strategy for Iran is based on mobilising the majority Arab, Sunni Muslims against Iran, the largest Shiite Muslim population in the Gulf region, by fuelling the deep-rooted Sunni-Shiite divide. Syria, where the minority Alawites (an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam) hold power through President Bashar al-Assad is in fact the theatre where this ploy is being currently deployed, by mobilising a largely Sunni rebel movement.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ An examination of the significance of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide in Middle East politics and relations demonstrates the veracity of this analysis.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The nearly 1400 year old Sunni-Shiite divide, and the continuing animosity, is founded on violent disagreement over the rightful succession to Prophet MuhammadƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s caliphate rather than on any major ideological fault lines. The rise in Egypt, Jordan and Syria of the fundamentalist Salafi sect of Sunni Islam who are deeply anti-Shiite is further deepening the rift.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The current global Muslim population of around 1.5 billion is made up of around 1.3 billion (90%) Sunnis and around 200 million Shiites, with largest Muslim countries Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan all being Sunni-majority; Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan are only Shia majority countries in the world. The global Sunni and Shiite populations are projected to reach almost 2 billion and 275 million respectively by 2030, maintaining the current ratios of Sunnis to Shiite;

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The rivalry between the Shiite and Sunni sects of Islam has always been the dominant dynamic in the Middle East, arguably even more intense than the collective antipathy of all Muslims towards Judaism: as an example, the so-called Arab Spring protests in Bahrain last year quickly turned into a sectarian clash between the Sunni monarchy and the majority Shiite population, prompting the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia next door to send troops to Bahrain, aggravating tensions between the Saudi government and the Shiite Iran.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For the past four decades, Syria, a majority Sunni country, has been ruled by the Assad family who come from the Alawite minority sect, a branch of Shia Islam, of around 3.5 million, making up just 12% to 15% of the Syrian population. Despite President Assad’s wife being Sunni, the Sunni-Alawite divide has always been a factor in Syrian civil and political life.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Alawite Hafez al-AssadƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s rise to power in Syria itself was a direct result of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”divide and ruleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ policy of European colonialism: after World War I, French colonial administration in Syria was forced to recruit minorities to fill government positions including in the military due to the Sunni majorityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s refusal to serve the foreign intruder; the military became Alawite dominated and the military hierarchy ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ backed Hafez al-AssadƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s 1970 coup.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sunni Muslim Brotherhood (Ikwan) attempted to assassinate Assad in 1980, and since 1982 Sunnis in Hama have been rising against Assad without success. The neocon decision to provide moral, financial and military support to the Sunni rebels in Syria is based on their belief that regime change in Syria is likely to be a strategic blow to Iran and Hezbollah. This strategy is being carried out under the guise of a laughable western led push to ‘democratise’ Syria.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the current phase of the operation, the world is being fed a steady diet of pro-Sunni Syrian rebel propaganda, based primarily on tales of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”mass slaughterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ by the Syrian military; reports of atrocities routinely come from the rebels, unverified, and the Western corporate media dress such war propaganda as news, laced with a heavy dose of anti-Assad rhetoric; initial claims of hundreds of casualties are often ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”revised downwardsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”dozensƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as in the case of the alleged shelling of Homs. These tales are similar to the phony reports of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”incubator babiesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ allegedly speared by Saddam HusseinƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s troops as they entered Kuwait! The project will culminate in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”shock and aweƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in the skies over Tehran.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It appears that in their evil wisdom, the neocons see that a Sunni-dominated Syria would truncate the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Shiite crescentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that currently connects Iran, Iraq and Syria and extends in to Lebanon via Hezbollah. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Through this strategy of playing the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sunni cardƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, the neocons are aiming to unleash a civil war in the Muslim world, pitting Sunnis against other minorities. Such an eventuality will inevitably lead to a blood bathe in the region, and unanticipated longer term repercussions for themselves.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A civil war in Syria will pit Sunni Islamists against the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Alawite, Druze, Christian, and Assyrian minorities with the resultant bloodshed, sectarian cleansing, refugee crises, assassinations and bombings, destabilising the entire region. Freedoms of Christians in Syria, the envy of Christians in other Arab countries – especially Qatar- will be a major casualty of any regime change in favour of the Sunnis. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The warring minorities are likely to be backed by rival regional blocs.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The neocons, in their evil brilliance, appear to have failed to see the reasons why their conspiracy is being actively supported by the corrupt, autocratic Sunni Arab sheikdoms of Saudi Arabia and Qatar! Through this failure they have failed to take in to account the ultimate impact on themselves of a united, wealthy Sunni majority population of over a billion Muslims!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This evil, hair-brained strategy devised by the same Anglo-American neocon team that ravaged Iraq and Afghanistan with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”shock and aweƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and Operation Infinite Justice will result in yet another senseless war in the Middle East, staged for the benefit of Israel: it will lead to slaughter and disaster similar to Iraq where millions were dead or displaced and the country reduced to dysfunctional sectarian misery, and Afghanistan where occupation has resulted, many thousands of dead later, spreading terror to Pakistan. Libya, where bombing to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”protect civiliansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ resulted in 30,000 deaths and thousands being tortured by the Nato installed puppet regime was the most recent neocon adventure. Along the way to Tehran, thousands more will die, conflict will extend across the region, oil supplies will be disrupted.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Can this evil be stopped? The UN Security Council needs to act proactively, leading the pragmatic as well as principled case against such evil designs across the Middle East by the US-UK-French-Israeli axis for no better purpose than maintaining control through proxy regimes.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Instead, they are busy overseeing domestic affairs of sovereign member countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives!