Iran emerging as victor in Syrian conflict: article

TEHRAN,June 13(MNA) – Iran has outmaneuvered the United States in the Syrian war and is emerging as the biggest victor in the wider regional struggle for influence, according to an article published on the website of the Washington Post on Wednesday. Following are excerpts of the text of the article written by Liz Sly: As fighters with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement wage the battles that are helping Syria’s (government) survive, … Iran, is emerging as the biggest victor in the wider regional struggle for influence that the Syrian conflict has become. “This is an Iranian fight. It is no longer a Syrian one,” said Mustafa Alani, director of security and defense at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Council. “The issue is hegemony in the region.” The ramifications extend far beyond the borders of Syria, whose location at the heart of the Middle East puts it astride most of the region’s fault lines, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the disputes left over from the U.S. occupation of Iraq, from the perennial sectarian tensions in Lebanon to Turkey’s aspirations to restore its Ottoman-era reach into the Arab world. Supporters of the Syrian opposition contrast the hesitancy of the U.S. administration in offering arms to the outgunned, poorly trained, and deeply divided rebels with the commitment that Iran has shown to its Damascus ally.