Between them, the Western countries and the Gulf kingdoms have turned the Syrian people's pro-democracy movement into an unrelenting unwinnable civil/sectarian war. As Syria continues to soak in the blood of its people, these outsiders have been fuelling the conflict to defeat the Assad regime, and by so doing, diminish Iran's influence in the region.
The European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels earlier this week announced lifting of an arms embargo - welcomed by the US as a step in the right direction - on the Syrian opposition. If it was meant to pressure Bashar al-Assad to step down, that is not going to happen. Soon after the announcement came, his backer, Russia, which is working on a joint imitative with the US on an international peace conference scheduled for next month, said the decision would "directly harm" the conference's prospects. More importantly, Moscow said it would provide the regime with arms under a previous agreement, and also air defence system to ward off any Libya-like air intervention.
Syria of course is no Libya. There are too many players, and there is too much at stake. In their zeal to counter Iran's influence the Gulf kingdoms have been playing a dangerous game of exploiting sectarian divisions in order to achieve a political objective. They have been arming and financing Sunni extremists to fight Shia Alawites-dominated Assad regime. These extremists include radical Islamists of all hues, including Takfiris and such groups as Al Nusra Front which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the US for its links with al Qaeda. They are everywhere. Many of the commanders in the Western-backed Supreme Military Council comprising rebel groups are radical Islamists. They manage the affairs of the areas freed from governmental control. For instance, a recent press report pointed out that in the largest city Aleppo, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting, rebels aligned with al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic sharia. Elsewhere, the report went on to note, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude produced there. Surely this is not what the opposition activists participating in the pro-democracy movement had aspired to achieve.
These people have committed some of the worst brutalities against members of the minority communities. 'Shias to the grave and Christians to Lebanon' has been one of their favourite slogans. Which must send shivers down the spines of all minority communities. They had rather deal with an authoritarian regime which stands for religious tolerance and social liberalism than to face murder and oppression. That seems to be a significant reason the regime has not only been able to hold on to power but has also managed to regain control in some important embattled areas.
The Western countries have been trying to build a case for air strikes, making noises about the regime using chemical weapons - a "red line" President Obama said the regime must not cross. Much as they would want to use every means, from air strikes to supplying sophisticated weapons to the rebel fighters, the fear is that the radical Islamists would hijack the 'free Syria' and implement in it their Takfiri agenda. Those people despise Western values as much as their own secular rulers. The example of Libya is there to remind the US of the inherent dangers.
While the battle lines are drawn along sectarian lines with Iran being the main target, the other side of course is not going to sit, arms folded, on the sidelines. Tehran is known to supply arms to its ally in Damascus. Its other ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah chairman Hassan Nasrallah just recently announced that his men would fight to the end to protect the Assad regime. Hezbollah fighters in fact have already been there for quite sometime. Questions, of course, are being raised about the illegality of the fighters from one country entering another without the permission of their own government. By the same token, other countries of the region should have refrained from training and arming rebels to go back and fight their government. And surely there was no justification whatsoever for Israel to launch two unprovoked air attacks earlier this month in Damascus which left dozens of Syrian soldiers dead. Anyone and everyone have been violating legal and moral rules.
The induction of sectarian element is a recipe for disaster. Obviously, no lessons have been learnt from the example of Afghanistan. The mujahedeen whom the US and a certain Arab country brought in from various Muslim countries to Pakistan to train and arm along with Afghan rebels to go and fight the 'infidels' in Afghanistan included one called Osama bin Laden and his future host and protector, Mullah Omar of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. No one will need reminding for a long time to come what they did after finishing that fight. Unless stopped now, it is only a matter of time for the Takfiris trained and armed by the Gulf states to embark on somewhat similar missions.
The Syrian people are suffering unspeakable death and destruction. Since the conflict started over two years ago, more than 82,000 men, women and children have died horrific deaths. They are still dying. Hundreds of thousands others have been uprooted from secure lives in their homes, jobs and schools, to wander as refugees in neighbouring countries. Yet it is a no-win situation for all sides - the regime, the resistance, and all those who used a genuine pro- democracy movement to turn it into a proxy war between the region's Sunni kingdoms and their Western allies on the one hand and Iran and its allies on the other. That realisation seems to have finally sunk in, which is why the US is now working closely with Russia to find a peaceful resolution centered on a UN-sponsored peace conference. The Syrian regime too has been invited without the condition that Bashar al-Assad step down as president. It is obvious though that any workable solution must include his ouster from power. Russia is expected to use its clout to make that happen and conclude a solution which is acceptable to Syrians on both sides of the conflict.
saida_fazal@yahoo.com