Syria chaos will engulf Saudi Arabia, warns leading opposition figure

Saudi Arabia is not interested in democracy emerging in war-torn Syria, according to the influential intellectual and activist Michel Kilo, and accused the Gulf state of "destroying" Syria.

Saudi Arabia has supported the Syrian opposition since the start of the conflict which has left more than 300,000 dead and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011. The kingdom hosted the Riyadh Conference in 2015, when various Syrian factions attempted to agree a common position from which to negotiate with the government in Damascus

But in two audio recordings widely circulated across social media, Kilo, a Christian opposition thinker, equated Saudi Arabia to Israel and demanded that Riyadh fulfill its promises towards the Syrian opposition. “It [Saudi Arabia] has committed a crime against the Syrian people,” he said.

'Our brothers in Saudi Arabia are neither capable of drawing up a plan, nor are they able to lead a comeback against the campaign that is being waged against Arab and Islamic societies'

- Michel Kilo

“Our brothers in Saudi Arabia are neither capable of drawing up a plan, nor are they able to lead a comeback against the campaign that is being waged against Arab and Islamic societies. They live just because they have money… but eventually they will see what’s coming for them.”

Kilo went on to say that the Saudis are “below the level of politics” and that “democracy does not suit them, nor does an Islamic governance system.”

He also demanded that Saudi Arabia consider all the money it has spent on the Syrian refugees and fighters and said it was a debt to be demanded from the Syrian government once Assad has fallen. 

MEE was unable to verify the authenticity of the voice recordings. It is also unknown when or where the recordings were made.

Kilo: Fall of Syria will mean demise of Saudi

Kilo predicted that the chaos in Syria will eventually reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

“This havoc will eventually end up destroying them [the Saudis]," he said. "If events in our country do not come to an end, they [terrorists] will move towards them in multiples, because they are the ones with the money.”

'I swear on the lives of my own children we shall not leave the Gulf intact. We shall dismantle it stone by stone'

- Michelle Kilo, intellectual and activist

He continued: “I swear on the lives of my own children we shall not leave the Gulf intact. We shall dismantle it stone by stone. You are destroying the best country in the Islamic and Arab worlds, a country whose name is Syria.”

Kilo, who has been in and out of jail in Syria for many years for promoting democracy, concluded by saying that the Saudis have not realised yet that the fall of Syria would mean their own fall.

“Would you believe that the Houthis occupy 10 Saudi villages," he said, in reference to the war Saudi is currently leading against Iran-allied Houthi rebels along its Yemen border. 

Shia Houthi fighters have launched rockets and incursions across the kingdom’s southern border since the Yemen war began in March 2015.