...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
"will definitely be defeated," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said on an unannounced visit to key ally Iran on Sunday.
"We believe that all the anti-Syrian forces have gathered in Aleppo to fight the government... and they will definitely be defeated," he told a joint news conference in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
His assertion came as Syrian troops, backed by airpower and tanks, pushed on in the second day of an assault on the northern city of Aleppo, sparking international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Salehi warned that, if the Syria conflict worsened and the regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
fell, the consequences "would engulf the region and eventually the whole world."
He added that "it's naive and illusory to think that, if a (power) vacuum opens up in Syria and the government changes, a new government could be easily established."
He urged Syria's neighbors to think hard about the situation, otherwise "everyone will lose."
Syria and Iran accuse several countries in the region, notably Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, Qatar and Turkey, of aiding the rebels in their fight against Assad's forces, with direction from the United States and in support of Israeli goals.