Rest of your post makes some points that should be discussed in separate threads. I'd say in summary that I do support Shia rights in Saudi.
In fact it was dishearting to see in Saudi how Shias are mistreated and discriminated against. Their mosques are locked up. I remember on Friday we were out exploring this Saudi city. Jumma prayer time came and we headed towards the nearest building that obviously looked like a mosque. Bunch of Saudi ran towards us saying don't go in that direction don't go. We asked them why, and they said, it is a Shia mosque and it is closed.
For me, it was strange. Mosque is mosque regardless if it is Shia or Sunni. I can and should be allowed to say a prayer in it.
So in essence I do abhor the treatment of Shias in the Sunni majority countries including Pakistan. We in Pakistan have had a terrible record of respecting and protecting Shias especially in the Talib dominated areas.
Coming back to the topic, Syrians should be allowed to replace Assad regime, and no country including Iran should support this ruthless man. It is time to end the use of bogey man (Israel, AQ, Wahabi etc.) just to prolong this dictator.
No Moooolah or Ayatoooooolah should be allowed to dictate our lives. For cryin out loud we are living in 21st centuries. It is time to rid ourselves of the bearded relics from 7th century.
peace
Iran should support deployment of international troops in Syria especially from Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and perhaps Egypt in order to work out a safer transition.
Thanks for the response.
So let me tell you the Iranian mentality that is usually misinterpreted by many.
Iranians aren't religious people, I mean just see Iranians on this forum like me, IranZamin, Surenas, Persian God King, Kollang, Abii, Bozorgmehr, JEskandari and many others. Most of us don't care about religious issues, and some of us are even agnostic or atheists. So if you think that Iranians support Assad because of sectarian issues and ignore the protests in Syria just because they are Sunnis you're wrong.
The Iranian mentality is much more into nationalism than religious ideology. We support Syria because Syria and Libya were the only Arab states that supported us during the Iraq-Iran war (Algeria and Lebanon stayed neutral and the rest all were against us). Many Iranian nationalists feel threatened by a coordinated US-Israeli attack on Iran, and as Syria is part of the Iranian integrated radar network and Iran has stationed IRGC soldiers in there since long ago in case of an Israeli attack, this gives importance to Syria for Iranians.
But again, believe it or not, there are many Iranians, especially from the opposition groups, that are pro-Syrian rebels. Surenas is one of them, and he is an atheist. So the issue of Syria mostly depends on how Iranians view it politically, not from religious perspective. For example, an agnostic person like me and an atheist like Abii see the Syrian rebellion in a negative way while an atheist like Surenas see it in a completely opposite viewpoint.
I personally think that If Syria falls, we would see another Libya or even worse, we'll witness a country that has been ruined by months of civil wars and will continue to get ruined by a new wave of civil war that will be created between different groups to hijack the revolution to be on top of the power and finally parties and groups that are better organized, like Al-Qaeda and Ikhwan-Al-Muslemeen would hijack the revolution and would change a secular state like Syria into a country which is hell-bent on the USA and Saudi Arabia.
A post-Assad Syria might be pretty different than what both of us could think now. I think Kofi Annan's plan was a good one, it urged Assad to resign, but at the same time, it urged the rebels to stop fighting by arms. I'm completely in agreement with you that Assad needs to go, not only Assad, but even his father Hafiz Assad too was a dictator, but this transition of power shouldn't be done this way by rebels that are armed with heavy artillery. That's where I disagree with the current situation.
I hope you would understand that Iranians don't support Assad because of Shi3a/Sunni issues, but because of their concerns and also political views that they have.
On the other hand, medical supplies can't be used to kill Syrians, but it could save them when they need medical help.
