Iraq Fears Unrest In Syria Will Lead To Religious And Sectarian Conflicts In The Middle East

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Syria: Fall Of Bashar al-Assad Will Bring War To Middle East, Warns Iraq -- The Telegraph

Iraq has raised renewed fears that the Middle East will be engulfed by sectarian bloodshed if Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is deposed as the country falls into civil war.

Nouri al-Maliki gave his most unequivocal support yet to the Assad regime, and even hinted that its downfall could force Iraq into an Iranian-led alliance against the Arab world's Sunni states.

"The killing or removal of President Bashar in any way will explode into an internal struggle between two groups and this will have an impact on the region," said Mr Maliki, refering to predictions of region wide conflict between Sunni Muslims and the Shia sect. "It will end with civil war and this civil war will lead to alliances in the region. Because we are a country that suffered from the civil war of a sectarian background, we fear for the future of Syria and the whole region."

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My Comment: His concerns are justified. What saved Nouri al-Maliki and his Iraq was the surge of 150,000 US soldiers. Will the same surge happen in Syria .... of course not .... but the groundwork is being laid for a bloodshed that may be even worse than Iraq's during the height of its civil war.