US war plan on Syria targets Shia alliance

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “The United States first and foremost from a strategic perspective has long since dreamed of breaking the Shia crescent and a war against Syria is really a prelude to a war on Iran,” Eric Draitser said on Monday.He added that Washington’s “strategy has always been to destroy Iranian influence in the region by breaking apart the Shia alliance that exists and Syria is the key lynchpin in all of this.”On Saturday, US President Barack Obama announced a decision to take unilateral military action against the Syrian government without a UN mandate.The call for military action against Syria intensified after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.Damascus has vehemently denied the accusations, saying the chemical attack was carried out by the militants themselves as a false-flag operation.Draitser said a strong alliance between Iraq, Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is forming a “very powerful block to US/NATO/Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.”“So when we’re looking at the war in Syria and the US interests in it, the interest is very simple: maintain hegemony by depriving the Iranians of a key ally and by breaking apart the region as best they possibly can,” he added.Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria. /129