The Syria peace talks in Vienna in October. ‘The International Syria Support Group should encourage, facilitate and enable Syrians to change the course of their future.’ Photograph: US Department of State
Simon Tisdall, The Guardian: Saudi executions put ball of regional tension in Iran's court
Deaths of cleric Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others will be seen as direct challenge to Tehran, which may feel obliged to pick up gauntlet.
The consequences of Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 47 people will be felt far beyond its Eastern Province, which was home to Nimr al-Nimr, the leading Shia Muslim cleric who was the most prominent figure among those to die.
Unlike many of the Sunni Muslims executed for alleged complicity in al-Qaida terrorism, Nimr was an advocate of non-violent resistance to the unelected Saudi regime. He was arrested in 2012 for criticising the royal family.
His plight reflected the trials and tribulations of Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, which accounts for 15% of the country’s 29 million people and has suffered, historically, from institutionalised discrimination and periodic security crackdowns.
WNU Editor: The Syrian peace talks were probably doomed without this execution. But since it has happened, any appearance of talking with Saudi Arabia .... even over Syria .... is not going to happen in view of the anger that is now sweeping Iran.
1 comment:
The peace will come as a result of Russia and Syria defeating the US-Turkey-Saudi supported anti-Syria forces, and not at any conference table. It's being done.
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