Syria's grand mufti, a key Assad ally, claims Rohingya Muslims' suffering has been exaggerated

Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, who holds the highest Islamic authority in Syria, claimed that the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing prosecution is "exaggerated" and mentioned "at least a hundred times a day" in the media.

"These '450,000 refugees' is repeated at least 100 times in one day, while Saudi Arabia has cost Yemen nine million refugees and there is no mention about this," Hassoun said during an interview to Indian World is One News (WION) channel.

Over 500,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh in just the past five weeks.

The numbers continue to rise as the Myanmar's Muslim minority flees a brutal army crackdown as well as communal violence, which the UN has said amounts to "ethnic cleansing".

Hassoun, who is close to the Syrian regime which has killed and displaced millions of Syrians itself, is believed to have had direct involvement in the execution of 13,000 political prisoners in the regime's infamous Saydnaya prison

But to Syria's grand mufti the suffering of Rohingya Muslims has been overstated.

"[The media] has made a very big issue of the Myanmar problem to get the attention of the Muslim world," he said.

"We need to study the problem in Myanmar… is it a religious problem? Or is it a security issue? Religion is being used as a scapegoat for a reason."

Hassoun also warned authorities in India that the Muslim minority posed a "security threat" to India. His comments came as India's supreme court considers the deportation of more than 40,000 Rohingya refugees.

Hassoun, who is close to the Syrian regime which has killed and displaced millions of Syrians itself, is believed to have had direct involvement in the execution of 13,000 political prisoners in the regime's infamous Saydnaya prison, according to Amnesty International. 

His comments sparked outrage across social media platforms.

Bashar's butcher

A criminal, not Grand Mufti