According to a LIGNET.com analysis, after months of standing behind Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters, Iran has backed away from its ally and called for dialogue. This move probably indicates that Iran’s leaders believe Assad is doomed and Tehran is trying to protect its interests after he leaves office.
LIGNET.com believes it is hard to see how a post-Assad Syria will continue the country’s close relationship with Iran given Tehran’s support for Assad’s crackdown against anti-government demonstrators:
“It is hard to imagine that a post-Assad government could easily forgive Iran for its close association with Assad and its support of the crackdown against Syrian anti-government demonstrators, especially in light of reports that Tehran dispatched snipers to fire on Syrian demonstrators. A post-Assad Syria will also have difficulty aligning with Iran for religious reasons since Syria is mostly Sunni Muslim and generally secular while Iran is a Shiite theocracy, differences that Assad and Iran overcame because of their mutual hatred of the West and Israel. Although a post-Assad Syria could end up as anti-Israel, U.S. and European support of Syrian anti-government protesters makes continuation of the close Syria-Iran alliance unlikely.”
Click HERE to read the full analysis of this story from LIGNET.com, a new Washington, DC-based intelligence analysis and forecasting service.
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