Post by peterd on Feb 26, 2013 7:03:55 GMT -8
Iranian National Returning From Syria: The Situation There Is Dire – But Most Support Assad
On February 10, 2013, the Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), published an interview with Zeinab Hadad, an Iranian student who had recently returned from an eight-year stay in Syria due to her fears about the fighting there. The article was removed shortly after it appeared on the website, perhaps because it showed the true severity of the crisis in Syria, which is incompatible with Tehran's official view – that is, that it will be resolved very soon by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad – or because of its criticism of Tehran's treatment of Iranians who fled Syria. However, the interview was cited and quoted by other Iranian websites, including Tabnak.
In the interview, Hadad reiterates claims by the Iranian regime that the Syrian revolution has its roots in Salafi circles funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel with the aim of fomenting unrest there. She goes on to state that Assad could have prevented the spread of the crisis had he shown restraint in Dera' when the unrest first began in February 2011. She says that some 60% of Syrians want the Assad regime to remain because they fear Syria becoming another Afghanistan or Libya, and describes the difficulties of life during the fighting, particularly in Damascus. Telling of the persecution of Shi'ites and 'Alawites, who are treated as infidels and captured by the rebels, she adds that the regime is setting up and arming local militias to purge areas of rebels, and that this is why the fighting is continuing.
Hadad also compares Iraq's treatment of its citizens who return from Syria with the Iranian regime's treatment of its own returning citizens, and accuses the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of abandoning them.
Following are the main points of the interview:
www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7025.htm
On February 10, 2013, the Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), published an interview with Zeinab Hadad, an Iranian student who had recently returned from an eight-year stay in Syria due to her fears about the fighting there. The article was removed shortly after it appeared on the website, perhaps because it showed the true severity of the crisis in Syria, which is incompatible with Tehran's official view – that is, that it will be resolved very soon by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad – or because of its criticism of Tehran's treatment of Iranians who fled Syria. However, the interview was cited and quoted by other Iranian websites, including Tabnak.
In the interview, Hadad reiterates claims by the Iranian regime that the Syrian revolution has its roots in Salafi circles funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel with the aim of fomenting unrest there. She goes on to state that Assad could have prevented the spread of the crisis had he shown restraint in Dera' when the unrest first began in February 2011. She says that some 60% of Syrians want the Assad regime to remain because they fear Syria becoming another Afghanistan or Libya, and describes the difficulties of life during the fighting, particularly in Damascus. Telling of the persecution of Shi'ites and 'Alawites, who are treated as infidels and captured by the rebels, she adds that the regime is setting up and arming local militias to purge areas of rebels, and that this is why the fighting is continuing.
Hadad also compares Iraq's treatment of its citizens who return from Syria with the Iranian regime's treatment of its own returning citizens, and accuses the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of abandoning them.
Following are the main points of the interview:
www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7025.htm