Backers of Syrian rebels endanger Iraq: Iraqi minister

[Bosonic]

2. AP INTERVIEW: Iraq PM warns Syria war could spread

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister warned Wednesday that a victory for Syria's rebels will spark sectarian wars in his own country and in Lebanon and will create a new haven for al-Qaida that would destabilize the region.

The comments by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an interview with The Associated Press marked one of his strongest warnings yet about the turmoil that toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad could create in the Middle East.

It comes as his government confronts growing tensions of its own between the Shiite majority and an increasingly restive Sunni minority nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Fighting in Syria has sharp sectarian overtones, with predominantly Sunni rebels battling a regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite Islam.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-interview-iraq-premier-syria-war-could-spread