Likewise, the West must recognize that reconciliation in Syria will be impossible without reconciliation between the Sunni and Shia regimes in the wider region. Several of the Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies view Syria’s crisis and the prospect of Assad’s demise as an opportunity to compensate for Iraq’s rapprochement with Iran following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime and the emergence of a Shia-led government.
同样，西方国家必须意识到没有区域逊尼及什叶政权的和解，在叙利亚实现和解是不可能的。某些逊尼派统治的海湾君主国甚至将叙利亚危机和阿萨德的倒台看作他们在萨达姆·侯赛因的逊尼派政权倒台及什叶派政府接管后与伊朗修复关系的机会。