Why does iran support assad

But the Alawites are an open society when it comes to religion and social norms. For instance, they like their drink. Alawites told the Iranians goodbye and good luck. Iranians found it easier to manipulate Syrians worst affected by the war and hence the expansion in areas formerly held by the Islamic State. Navvar Saban, a conflict expert at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies who specializes in Syria-Iran relations, said Iran had slowly but steadily cultivated ties with Syrians of all backgrounds.

Former U. Most of the kiosks, 31 of them, belonged to Iranian companies selling everything from power plants to biscuits to soap. Two years later, the Syrian-Iranian Joint Chamber of Commerce was set up, and just last month an Iranian delegation traveled to Damascus to ramp up efforts to increase its economic footprint in Syria. President Joe Biden rejoins the nuclear deal. Two years after the Iran nuclear deal was inked, Tehran reportedly quadrupled its funding to Hezbollah.

There is no data on how many Syrians Iran has managed to convert to Shiism or how many it has softened toward its ideas. But its military, cultural, and economic expansion is creating new fault lines in a country already fragile on all fronts. Twitter: anchalvohra. Signs are adding up that the explosives in Beirut may have been intended for Damascus—but Lebanese elites are trying to slow the investigation.

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Erdogan has been infuriated by Iran's attempts to paint Turkey as conspiring with the West on Syria. This week, Iran's chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi accused Turkey of helping the "belligerent objectives" of Western powers, prompting the Turkish Foreign Ministry to condemn "groundless accusations and extremely inappropriate threats" of Iranian officials.

Erdogan joined in. Two days in Aleppo: Guns, graveyards and stairwell beds. He left with what the Turkish Foreign Minister called a "frank and friendly" message about intemperate language.

And it is likely to be a Syria where central control is much weaker in the face of sectarian and clan fissures. Turkey will be working for the opposite outcome, wary that Syria's Kurds might seek common cause with its own restive Kurdish minority and concerned that prolonged instability will spill into Lebanon and across Syria's long and porous border with Turkey.

If its rhetoric is accepted at face value, Iran may be ready to step up support for al-Assad. But does it have the resources? As Ayham Kamel at Eurasia Group notes: "Sanctions are biting, oil revenues have been compressed, inflation is rampant, and reserves are limited.

The United States says Iran is intensifying its support for the Assad regime. And most analysts expect at least more Iranian cash and more expertise to be made available. Sections U. Science Technology Business U. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran. As Iran's frontman in Syria since , Soleimani helped turn the tide in the now 9-year-old civil war, intervening to save Assad as armed rebels reached the capital Damascus and seized several key cities. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news.