Alwaght- Riyadh seizes the opportunity to inflict as much damages as possible on Iran’s ally, an approach implemented through supporting an array of rebel groups in Syria.
The Saudi government has the Western governments’ backing, specifically the Unites States’, to proceed with its objectives in West Asia region. Perhaps it could be assumed that a part of the US policies, which deal with the wave of the Arab world’s developments in the region, are implemented by Saudi Arabia. Since 1979, when the Shah regime in Iran has been overthrown, Saudi Arabia has turned out as the US’ closest ally in the region. This alliance has covered a comprehensive variety of fields which included confronting the "Iranian threat", preserving the status quo, giving the Sunni groups in Lebanon an acceptable power to rise and put pressures on OPEC to keep the oil prices low. Thereby, Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy has generally been practical, with a basis of efforts for preserving the kingdom’s regime.
As a result of its fear of Iran’s renewed gain of power following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Ba'ath Party in Iraq and declining balance of power in West Asia, Saudi Arabia has gone to great lengths to form alliances with some of the region’s countries and the US in order to restore the balance of power and downgrade the capabilities of its rivals in the Persian Gulf region and West Asia as well. The Saudi officials see Iran’s holding sway on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which make up a Shiite Crescent, as largely changing the balance of power in West Asia in favor of Tehran. To deal with the region’s fresh developments, the fundamentalist and Wahhabi Saudi kingdom along with Qatar, through their arms and financial supports, are seeking to weaken the Alawites, who are part of Shiite Muslims, and strengthen the Sunni fundamentalists so they manage to leave a dramatic impact on Syria’s crisis for their own good. By reducing Iran’s influence in Syria, they struggle to downgrade Shiite Iran’s power in the West Asian region.
Based on the points given, it should be concluded that the absolute Saudi regime is engaged in a tough rivalry with the Islamic Republic in the region, as it is making efforts to scale down the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power in West Asia. The recent Syrian developments have given Saudi Arabia the excuse to back up President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents with the aim of pressurizing Iran and its regional allies.
The start of Saudi intervention in the Syrian conflict dates back to August 7, 2012, when a statement was released by the former King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Addressing the Syrian government, the statement has demanded "return to rationality in decision making to put an end to the killing of the Syrians". Carrying some reforms suggestions to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the statement presents Saudi Arabia as the first Arab state which is coming clean in criticizing President Assad’s government.
In a televised speech, the Saudi king has called on Bashar Assad to “stop the killing and bloodshed machine”, stating, also, to Assad that “every Arab and Muslim knows that one cannot find hope through shedding the blood of the innocent people.” As it was before mentioned, the dualism in Saudi policy is indicative of the mean kingdom’s grim approaches in the region, which tries to secure its interests even through crushing its Islamic identity.
Holding Syria accountable for the kingdom’s declined influence in Lebanon due to the Syrian government’s support for Hezbollah, the Al Saud regime has viewed the 2011 Syrian developments as a ripened opportunity to take revenge on Syria. Therefore, Saudi Arabia, for its efforts for conducting a regime change in Syria and also for its competition with Iran, has emerged as the starter of a full-scale proxy war in Syria. On the other side, the Saudi diplomacy has been active in several directions. On the one hand, it intended to communicate with the rebels by posting requests to the Arab League, the UN and the UNSC and also by opening up a contact channel. On the other hand, siding with the Western-Arab axis, the kingdom has done its best to crack down on Assad’s government. Although Saudi Arabia has failed to build an international consensus for military intervention in Syria, it managed to help undermine Bashar al-Assad’s government through funding and arming the rebel fighters, using its international influence.
On November 7, 2013, the Guardian has reported that following the defeats received by the Free Syrian Army, Riyadh had focused its efforts on supporting Jaysh al-Islam and al-Nusra Front militant groups to topple the government of President Assad. Made out of 43 smaller rebel groups, Jaysh al-Islam owns at least 5000 militants, all funded by Saudi Arabia and deployed through Jordan soil. Every now and then, news is spread on media about Saudi backing of al-Nusra Front and ISIS terror groups.
The Arab League on November 27, 2011, in a coordinated move has imposed financial and banking sanctions on the Syria government by its 19 members, pushing down Syria’s currency to a large extent.
It seems that the kingdom is a country which has adopted the most hostile approach in dealing with the crisis in Syria, as it came against the peace plans proposed by the former UN-Arab League peace envoy for Syria Kofi Annan in the Friends of Syria Group's conference held in Geneva in February 2012, claiming that it was impossible to make peace with President Assad and that he had to step down, a demand Saudi Arabia has worked hard with Turkey to realize. But the US officials are growing concerned over Ankara and Riyadh’s measures because Washington is not willing to work with the rebel groups for it thinks that once Assad is overthrown, they would turn out as the most hazardous government across the region. Ankara and Riyadh claim that Assad government poses a more thorough threat than do such radical groups as al-Nusra Front. Together with diplomatic backup, Saudi Arabia has provided the terrorists in Syria with abundant funding and arming. On February 24, 2012, following an arms delivery to the rebels in Syria, the former Saudi foreign minister has called the measure as satisfactory and vital for protecting the rebels in the face of Assad’s forces. Also, according to confirmed reports by Guardian’s reporter, in May 2012, Riyadh has sent arms cargos to the rebel group Free Syrian Army through Turkey’s south.
By its supports for the Syrian opposition groups and by playing an active role in controlling and directing the crisis in Syria, Saudi Arabia is seeking to improve its position in the war-torn country, as it tries to gain an influence over the Syrian Sunni community, specifically the Salafis, to help them seize the power in the country. Riyadh is severely worried about Iran’s regional sway, especially over the Shiites, and attempts to decrease Tehran’s role and influence. Riyadh is trying to paint the conflict in Syria as a Shiite-Sunni confrontation, and thus take over the leadership of the Sunni sides. Saudi Arabia’s leaders pretend that supporting anti-Assad forces is the kingdom’s duty. Introducing Syria’s government as a representation of Shiites, Riyadh wants to put the country’s Sunnis, who account for %70 of the total Syrian population, in direct run-in with the country’s government and inflame a religious conflict and guarantee itself against waves of domestic protests.
Among Saudi policies followed to overthrow Bashar al-Assad is the equipping of the opposition forces with a set of different weapons which could add to the rebels’ capabilities in their battle against the government forces. The Saudi move to arm the armed Syrian opposition with new weapons shows Riyadh’s concerns about the situation in the country. Since the beginning of crisis, Saudi Arabia has supplied the terrorists with weapons and funding, and currently it is spearheading the alliance for war on Damascus.
In a very latest move, Saudi Arabia, after inviting Khaled Khoja, the new head of the coalition of the Syrian opposition forces, in early April 2015, has immediately invited Zahran Alloush, the former leader of Jaysh al-Islam, a militant group close to Saudi government and has a stronghold in southern Syria, calling on him to start good ties with Ahrar ash-Sham group. Afterwards, Alloush traveled to Turkey in late April and met with Ahrar ash-Sham’s leaders. Saudi leaders are well aware that without Turkey's cooperation they could not make any success in northern Syria because Turkey shares lengthy land borders with Syria, an issue seen significant for arms and vehicles deployment and training the terrorists, and facilitating advances of the takfiri forces in battlefields.
Presenting media and financial supports for propagating the Salafi ideology among the Syrians, Saudi regime has prepared the ground for eruption of crisis in Syria. By its arms supplies to the opposition fighters, Riyadh has remarkably played a role in feeding the conflict in the country. Through its media outlets like Al Arabiya news channel which has exaggerated some measures, Riyadh has provoked the public further, pouring fuel on the fire in Syria. Later on, with expansion of the clashes and development of the crisis in to a civil war, Saudi Arabia, by its funding, arming, and propagandistic supports for the opposition as well as training and deploying thousands of foreign terrorists, has struggled to keep Syria’s crisis rolling on.
