"By contrast, the dynasties of Saudi Arabia and
Qatar reject religious pluralism as a matter of state ideology. Both
countries have encouraged an extraordinary outpouring of sectarian
incitement against the Shiites of the Arab world in a bid to retain
absolute power and to undermine what they regard as their most
formidable regional foe: Shiite Iran. Tehran has close ties to Damascus
and is patron to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But the intervention by Saudi Arabia and Qatar against the Assad regime
is not necessarily for sectarian reasons. Rather, both monarchies have
secular interests, namely preserving the region’s pro-Western petroleum
order, which provides great benefits to the Saud and Thani regimes. To
the extent that they are involved in a major struggle against Iran, they
do so in explicit coordination with the United States."
