(Arab News-Saudi Arabia) Baria Alamuddin - As reports flooded out of Aleppo last week concerning dozens of citizens shot in the streets by out-of-control regime forces, Iran and Hizbullah have been congratulating each other for their role in bombing citizens of this mighty Arab city to their knees. While the Russians and even Syrian President Assad had not opposed the departure of civilians, the Iranians blocked the deal. Humanitarian efforts were held up for days to negotiate a deal of safe passage for Iran proxy militias elsewhere. The presence of Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force, in eastern Aleppo shows the degree to which Iran is micromanaging this slaughter. The capture of Aleppo brings Iran several steps closer to dominating a massive area of contiguous territory all the way to the Mediterranean. This is a land grab on a massive scale in the cause of Iranian regional hegemony. The combined land mass of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon (states that Iran boasts it now dominates) is 632,700 sq. km. This is just over 100 times larger than the Palestinian territories (6,220 sq. km.). So is Iran or Israel the bigger occupier of Arab lands? If we only attribute 250,000 of the 400,000 Syrians who have lost their lives to Iranian munitions, this is still 100 times more than the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since 2011. In widening its stranglehold on Arab states, Iran is objectively 100 times more dangerous and 100 times more of an immediate threat.
2016-12-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive