JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia regards the involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria’s civil war as dangerous and believes the rebels must be offered military aid to defend themselves, the kingdom’s foreign minister said yesterday.
Speaking at a news conference with US Secretary John Kerry in Jeddah, Prince Saud Al Faisal added that Saudi Arabia “cannot be silent” about Iranian intervention and called for a resolution to ban arms flows to the Syrian government.
“The kingdom calls for issuing an unequivocal international resolution to halt the provision of arms to the Syrian regime and states the illegitimacy of the regime,” Prince Saud said.
In Jeddah, Kerry held discussions with Prince Saud and Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who coordinates the kingdom’s efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
The discussions include Washington’s plans for providing direct military support to General Salim Idriss of the Supreme Military Council, the military wing of Syria’s main civilian opposition group.
Prince Saud said the world’s top oil exporter “cannot be silent” at the intervention of Iran and Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict and renewed calls to arm the opposition and bar weapons sales to President Bashar Al Assad.
“The most dangerous development is the foreign participation, represented by Hezbollah and other militias supported by the forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” said.
“There is no logic that allows Russia to publicly arm the Syrian regime and the foreign forces that support it,” he added.
Reuters
