Arab paper: Syria, Iran instigated
Gaza conflict

Asharq Alawsat editor claims Syria, Iran
caused escalation between Israel, Gaza to aid Assad regime

While the Arab world condemns Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Operation
Pillars of Defense steals the headlines on the Arab channels, a civil war
continues to run wild in Syria between the rebels and Syrian President Bashar
Assad's regime – a war that has been going on for a year and eight months.

In a report given by the opposition on Sunday night to the SkyNews channel in
Arabic, the violence and warfare continue in a few of the country's cities,
killing 51 in the last 24 hours and almost 200 since the weekend.

Against this backdrop, editor-in-chief of the most-read
newspaper in the Arab world, "al-Sharq al-Awsat", Tariq Alhomayed tried to turn
his readers' attention to another tragedy in the Arab world; revealing what he
believes brought upon the escalation in southern Israel – the Iranians and
Assad.

In an editorial entitled, "The solution to Gaza…return to Syria," Alhomayed
wrote that, " Unfortunately, wars in our region have become like a race, so each
war is to cover another one. In other words, these wars are nothing more than a
move to escape forward.

Therefore what is happening in Gaza is escaping forward, particularly in the
hope of saving al-Assad or at least ensuring that the cost of toppling him will
be greater for everybody. The greatest architect of such wars is Iran".

According to Alhomayed, the Iranians tried heating up the fronts on the
Israeli borders via their agents. When unsuccessful on the Syrian and Lebanese
fronts, they chose the Gaza Strip. "When the Golan front did not move quickly
enough for al-Assad and Iran, they resorted to the Gaza front, because this can
be inflamed far quicker, whilst it is also easier for Israel in this regard. For
Israel, Gaza is like a punching bag that can be used for training and muscle
flexing, whilst success in Gaza would strike several “files” in one go ".

Regarding Syria he wrote: "Now, the best solution to get out of this war
– or air strikes – in Gaza is to return to Syria, and strongly, for whoever is
responsible for the launch of the home-made rockets in Gaza did this whilst
being well aware that there is no equivalence. The whole purpose of this was to
save al-Assad, whose days are numbered; indeed his ouster is just around the
corner".

The Syrian human rights watch center reported on Sunday that Assad's
forces attacked a few neighborhoods and areas in southern Damascus, including:
al-Hajar, al-Aswad, al-Hajira and al-Baweda. Bloodshed occurred on Saturday,
when the opposition reported on 140 dead, including three women and six
children.

The reports said that 63 were killed in Damascus and its suburbs, 30
killed in Aleppo, 21 in the Dir al-Zur district, 11 in Idlib, seven in Harasta,
four in Homs, two in Daraa and two in Hama. The Syrian human rights watch center
reported that amongst those killed on Saturday were 56 civilians and 48 military
and regime soldiers.

Last week, Syria managed to take advantage of the crisis in the Gaza
Strip and to condemn what he called, "the crimes of the Israeli barbarians
against the Palestinian nation and government in the Gaza Strip". Syria called
upon the international community to put pressure on Israel in order to stop its
attacks.

On Thursday, the Syrian, state-run newspaper, "Al-Tishreen" took
advantage of the developments in the Gaza Strip in order to divert attention
away from the Syrian civil war.

The caption read: "Gaza is under fire by the occupiers – nine
Palestinians killed and tens are wounded during intensive attacks". The headline
read: "Syria condemns the barbaric Israeli crimes: We will forever remain loyal
to our national commitments".