World

Saudi Envoy Pays Huge Sums to AIPAC to Reinvigorate Anti-Syrian Lobby in US

TEHRAN (FNA)- Saudi Ambassador to Washington Adel A. Al-Jubeir has recently held a series of meetings with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) leaders in Washington and paid them $50 million to reinvigorate their lobbying efforts in the US Congress against Syria.

"Saudi Envoy to the US Adel Ahmad al-Jubeir, who formerly also served as an advisor to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, has recently had several meetings with AIPAC's Director for International Affairs Jason Isaacson," an informed Saudi source, who asked to remain unnamed due to the secrecy of the meetings, told FNA on Saturday.

"During the meetings, Jubeir urged AIPAC officials to highten their efforts and use their age-old and influential relations with the US Republican congressmen to convince them to ratify President Obama's proposed resolution for war on Syria," the source added, describing a US war on Syria to topple President Assad's government as standing top on Riyadh's agenda.

"The Saudi embassy in Washington has paid a sum of $50 million to the AIPAC for the possible costs which may incur on the influential lobby group in this regard," the source said.

Last Tuesday the AIPAC broke its silence on Syria, calling for members of Congress to vote in favor of a resolution giving President Barack Obama express authority to launch strikes against President Bashar al-Assad.

“AIPAC urges Congress to grant the president the authority he has requested to protect America’s national security interests,” the group wrote in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

Capitol Hill sources believe that the explicit backing of AIPAC will help the president collect votes at a time when the fate of his use-of-force authorization remains unclear.

The word “Israel” appears nowhere in the text of the statement, underscoring by omission the worry pro-Israel groups in the United States have about framing retaliatory strikes in a way that makes it look like Israel is pushing for an attack on Syria for its own interests.

“America’s allies and adversaries are closely watching the outcome of this momentous vote," AIPAC wrote, reminding that the critical decision should also be taken to send a signal to Iran.

“Failure to approve this resolution would weaken our country’s credibility to prevent the use and proliferation of unconventional weapons and thereby greatly endanger our country’s security and interests and those of our regional allies.”