The government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as Russian forces now backing him, have a new enemy: Saudi Arabia’s clerics. As reported by the UK’s Daily Mail, in recent days the clerics declared jihad against Russian and Syrian forces following a plea to all Sunni Muslims to join in the fight against Assad. In all, more than 50 clerics and academics signed a joint statement that calls on Sunnis – Saudi Arabia’s dominant sect – to “hurry” into war-torn Syria to assist those seeking to topple Assad’s government. The Daily Mail reported that the call to Sunnis came just before a pair of rockets were launched at the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, an Assad stronghold, which alarmed many who had gathered in support of Moscow’s intervention . The paper reported further: Hundreds of Syrians had reportedly met … to back Russia’s air war in Syria before the shells were fired towards the building in the Mazraa neighbourhood. One witness said both rockets a...
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