Chairman of Law Committee of the Syrian National Coalition Haitham al-Maleh has said he believes Iran is leading a sectarian war in Syria and said there is a heavy presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guards fighting for the regime, along with Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthis and Iraqi Shiites
Speaking to al-Rai, Maleh said the Syrian President Bashar Assad "and his ruling gang" have became part of this sectarian war, after Tehran pushed him to avenge their "historical grievance.
He said the Lebanese government and Hezbollah are partners in the crimes committed against Syrian people, claiming an "unprecedented level of support" by Hezbollah for the regime.
"It is a step towards burning the whole region, not only Syria," Maleh said, adding that "Hezbollah didn’t win in Qusair."
"The winners were the revolutionaries who withdrew tactically to protect civilians," Maleh said.
"Against whom does Hezbollah declare its victory? Did it win over Muslims?" he asked.
He revealed that Yemeni Houthis entered Syria through Lebanon and were accompanied by members of Hezbollah.
"They are fighting everywhere," he said,
He said the battle of Qusair "removed the mask of Hezbollah and Iran which leads a dirty sectarian war against Arabs and Muslims," claiming that "the ambitions of Iranian expansion don’t have any relation to religion."
"Iran uses Shiites to fight Arabs to achieve its nationalist goals to recover the kingdom of Persia," Maleh said.
Replying to a question about European and American moves towards arming the military opposition following the battle of Qusair, Maleh said: "We had many promises and we depend only on God and on our people," adding that he believed "leaving the Persian project to continue without confrontation will influence the region, especially Saudi Arabia and the Gulf."
"The negligence of some Arabs towards the Syrian revolution will reflect dramatically in the region," he said.
Regarding whether the Syrian regime aims to decide the battle militarily to improve its negotiating position ahead of the proposed Geneva 2 talks, Maleh said this strategy was devised in Moscow.
"Russia had asked the regime before to decide the battle militarily before the political operation, but this didn’t happen," Maleh said.
He said Russian-American disagreement meant Geneva 2 will not go ahead, pointing out that the Coalition "has never received an invitation to participate, and we will not go to this conference if it is held while sectarian war threatens the Syrian people and the region."
Maleh claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin "is responsible of the crimes being committed in Syria", saying "Putin is leading Russia within the mentality of fascist Stalinist intelligence which killed 15 million people to establish the communist state."
"The Coalition doesn’t accept orders from anybody, neither Russia, nor America," he said, in response to Putin's claim that the Coalition was externally sponsored, not ready for negotiations and unable to decide who represents it.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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