The willingness of the US to conduct strikes in the country is seen, by many, as just another aspect of a Saudi-US nexus working against a progressive regime. What is lacking in these knee-jerk situations is an in-depth study of the situation in Syria, including a critique of Baathism, the history of the Syrian people and the rise of the movement against the present regime. Whether or not the Syrian government used chemical weapons is the subject of another debate, but the fact remains that a pluralistic movement for democracy is being crushed brutally. This is not a progressive government defending humanist politics. This is a ruthless ruling clique, which is desperately clinging to power by pandering to the false binary of extremists versus secularists.
Tunisia’s Ben Ali stepped down after three weeks and six days in the face of popular revolt. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak stepped down after two weeks and three days. It has been over two years since the revolt started in Syria and the violence is getting increasingly horrifying. The common factor uniting all these countries is the process of a revolution — the struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor. But the difference between these revolutions is that Assad’s regime understands only the language of force. The US will not hesitate in supporting the most unsavoury elements among the rebels, nor will it back down from bombing Syria to achieve what it considers to be its strategic goals. But the fact of greatest significance right now is this: the US is not launching artillery barrages on opposition strongholds in residential areas. Assad is.
In such a situation, just how much can one fault elements within the Syrian opposition, if they feel a foreign intervention might save them? There will be many things the Syrians will wish did not happen, in retrospect. Perhaps, the intervention will be one of them. But for now, the butcher of Damascus needs to bow to the will of his people.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2013.
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@Albert Samtu: so you think there is going to be elctions in Syria in 2014?
The fact that 80% to 90% of the rebels in Syria are foreign (about 80 various nationalities), it is inconceivable to call the crisis in Syria a rebellion against the government. This is clearly a foreign war by proxy against the Syrian state par excellence.
The past thirty months have proven that the government and the state army have the full confidence and support of the overwhelming majority of the people. The day that this confidence is withdrawn, and that day may come during the 2014 elections, the government would fall, otherwise. The longer this war against the Syrian state continues to be supported by foreign powers, the more likely the people are to give Bashar Al-Asad in 2014, a stronger electoral victory for another seven years, as president.
Notwithstanding the nature of the Syrian leadership, the assumption that the "Syrian people" are fighting against an autocratic, totalitarian government is false.
Only Muslims can stop their perpetual tendency of killing other Muslims.Nothing US or anyone else can do to rectify that.