(MENAFN - Arab News) Ghazanfar Asli Rukun Abadi is Iran's ambassador to Lebanon. He lives in the Lebanese capital and is a graduate from one of its universities. Ghazanfar in Arabic means "lion." Most probably, Abadi is one of the biggest Iranian supporters of the Assad regime.
He drew the attention of the press when he invited ambassadors of Syria, Russia and China to his house over dinner. This dinner was designed to decide Syria's political future. He expressed his anger at the meeting over a few incidents of weapon smuggling from Lebanon to Syrian rebels.
Apparently, the quartet's meeting in Beirut was a substitute for a meeting that was intended to take place in Damascus because the rebel forces attacked the city and the road from Lebanon to Damascus became unsafe.
Some of the Lebanese media considered that the meeting to be contrary to the rules of diplomatic hospitality, but that is untrue as long as it is just dinner and does not include any project without the knowledge of the Lebanese authorities. However, we do not want to engage in a debate about norms; and do not care about the opinion of Ambassador Ghazanfar's regarding the weapon smuggling from Lebanon to the Syrian revolutionists. He himself is not interested in Lebanese opinion or their opposition to the huge arsenal of weapons that the Iranian government is sending to support Hezbollah against the rest of the Lebanese.
The four ambassadors represent the four governments hated by the Arabs today. The longer the Syrian crisis continues and Assad remains in Damascus, the more problems it poses for Russia, China and Iran in the region and not vice versa. Whether true or false, stories emerge that Iran plans to send troops of 70,000 fighters to supplement Assad's collapsing regime under the pretext that the Iranian intervention is in response to Turkey's use of weapons and Western Patriot missiles. If they do so, it would be considered occupation and the Iranians will drown in the Syrian swamp. It could lead to the fall of the Iranian regime itself, which faces an internal state of anger similar to what is happening in Syria.
Referring to Turkey's use of Western defense, the Iranian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hassan Fayrouz Abadi said, "With this plan, the West is now preparing for another world war that will pose a threat to Europe itself."
I did not understand his insistence on the seriousness of Turkey's use of defensive Patriot weapons, warning Turks that it would increase tensions and calling on Turkey and the United States to withdraw them before the onset of a fire that no one can douse.
He should have known that the real fire would ignite if Iran sent an army to fight in Syria. Even if they confined their support to the coastal Alawite state only, it will find tens of thousands rushing to fight against it in a short span of time. Some will fight them out of sectarianism and some because they believe that the support of the Syrian people became obligatory for individuals after the failure of Arab governments and the betrayal of the international community.
Iran will open the gate of hell on itself and will be in the midst of a hostile environment like it has never known or seen before. Without the intervention of Iran, Assad will be defeated in a matter of a few weeks.
