The ambitious project reflects not only concern over terrorism but also growing alarm over the situation in Iraq, where U.S. forces are struggling to prevent sectarian violence from escalating to full-scale civil war between that nation's Shiite majority and Sunni minority.
What is interesting is that although the Syrian government lets these Saudi jihadis go through Syria to get to Iraq, the Syrian government does not apparently let them back in Syria if they get tired of fighting against tall odds.
Instead of just returning to Syria and catching a flight out of Damascus, if Saudi jihad volunteers want to go back home, they must traverse hot and hostile lands from the Sunni Triangle to reach the Saudi-Iraq border. Really, if Saudis could simply go home through Syria, there would be no particular reason to build a fence to stop them from crossing the desert border. And Shias could just enter while performing the trip to Mecca. Why cross the dessert when they can just fly in? I find it hard to believe that fingering Shias is a real reason. It sounds more like an excuse to dilute the the impact of worrying about returning Saudi jihadis.
Just interesting, I guess.
