(National Interest) Bruce Riedel - The Saudis sense a strategic opportunity has opened in Syria, a unique chance to deal a mortal blow to one of their enemies, the Shia terror group Hizbullah, and a serious blow to their regional adversary Iran. For decades Damascus has allowed Tehran to use its airports and ports to transfer arms to Hizbullah, and more recently it has provided much of its own equipment directly to the group. Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been based in Syria and thousands of Iranian tourists and spies have come to worship at Damascus' Sayyidah Zaynab mosque, a traditional Shia holy site. It was at the Zaynab mosque that Hizbullah and IRGC operatives met with Saudi Shia in 1996 to plan the attack on the American air force base at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where 19 Americans were killed in the Khobar barracks attack.
2011-08-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive