syria’s “day after” and its long night
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Syria’s “Day After” and Its Long Night

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

syria’s “day after” and its long night

Walid Choucair

So, there is a near consensus that regional and international discussions of the Syria crisis are largely taken up with talk of the “day after” the fall of the regime. This phrase is being repeated by most officials in the capitals of concerned countries. This discussion of the “day after” skips over the possibilities that things might become more complex after the fall of the regime, if the conflict is prolonged, and few people anticipate how long this could take. This means more destruction and killing, and thus hatred, which will govern the transitional period that Syria experiences after the regime’s collapse, making it even more difficult to manage things. The methodological and total destruction of cities and areas surrounding Damascus, after the same befell Homs, Aleppo and Hama, goes far beyond what people see on television. This carnage is merely evidence that the head of the regime and the small circle of his aides have taken it upon themselves to carry out what others had earlier quoted them as saying: “If they want to take Damascus, they can have it, razed to the ground.” The people who are implementing this policy are a handful of senior officers, confident that the scores of artillery pieces and rocket-launchers on Qassioun Mountain, overlooking the capital, are enough to carry out this mission. Meanwhile, a significant number of senior, fanatically loyal officers, particularly from the Alawi sect, have begun leaving Damascus for the city of Latakia and surrounding areas on the coast and its mountains. Their mission is to hole up there, to prolong the confrontation between the regime and the opposition as long as possible, because of the cooperation between the regime and Iran and Hezbollah fighters to see that these regions and others (even in the Syrian interior) remain untaken by the rebels for as long as possible. On Thursday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said that “as for preparing for victory by the opposition, this, of course, cannot be excluded,” because the regime is losing control over more and more of the country’s territory. This appears to be an implicit admission that it will be impossible to see a transitional phase that includes Assad’s remaining in power instead of beginning the process now without him, as has been favored by the “Friends of Syria” ever since the adoption of the Geneva Plan in June. This admission by Bogdanov shuts the door on what the remaining defenders of Assad in the resistance camp, which moves in the orbit of Iran, were saying a few weeks ago. They gave voice to the delusional speculation that a political settlement of the Syrian crisis was approaching thanks to an agreement between the regional and international countries hostile to Assad, and the BRIC countries, to see Assad remain in power. Most likely, these remaining “resistance” forces implicitly hope to negotiate over their “share” in Syria in a bazaar of pending regional issues between Iran and the Arab-western camp, after this bazaar was opened between Moscow and Washington during talks in Dublin and Geneva last week. Reducing the level of hopes in the pro-resistance camp, and particularly Iran, does not mean that new hopes can be achieved. However, the insistence on prolonging Syria’s dark night of blood and destruction that precedes the “day after” is meant to make the post-Assad regime phase extremely difficult for the western-Arab camp. The only result is more murder and annihilation of the Syrian people under a scorched-earth policy that pays no attention to the damage this will entail for Syria, for it as a country and for its remaining institutions, as well as for the sectarian and religious communities in Syria and its neighbors. Supporters of the regime as well as its opponents realize that Assad no longer exercises control over Syria, and that he has become isolated from everyone around him, living in a delusionary world of his own. He has allowed a handful of criminal officers to lead the confrontation and commit unprecedented atrocities. Assad has left them to run things, as they coordinate their actions with the remaining countries that support the regime, until the very last moment. They hope that the mission of peace keeping forces that might be sent by the United Nations Security Council, following a Russian-western agreement, and comprised of soldiers from Arab states (distant from Syria) and Asian Muslim and Latin American countries, will become a difficult one as soon as it begins. They hope that peacekeeping forces will end up being saddle with the task of separating regions of influence, instead of assisting in seeing a united Syria. They want this mission to become one of managing a new stage of the crisis and the conflict among areas of influence, instead of seeing the international community oversee a process of reconciliation among the communities of Syria and the political and economic reconstruction of this ravaged country. The regime will certainly fall. However, what is taking place today is a race between those who will try to divide up the burden that results, and those who seek to render this burden a time bomb that is inherited by the new rulers. It is also a race between those who are planning to push the military-political bloc that continues to fight with it to preserve the privileges that they have gained and between those who are working to secure guarantees for this bloc, if it helps speed up the collapse from within, instead of renewing the conflict on the "day after." And the friends of Syria do not appear to be in a hurry. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.  

GMT 17:34 2018 Thursday ,30 August

Can people be religious without being rigid?

GMT 17:17 2018 Thursday ,30 August

Turkey-US differences should not be allowed

GMT 15:35 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

Could EU recession lead to more protectionism?

GMT 15:24 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

We must remember the two sides of John McCain

GMT 15:14 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

The Putin Method: All Nice And Legal

GMT 14:47 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

The clear choices facing Iran

GMT 14:18 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

The Helsinki irony: When Trump and Assad both win

GMT 14:10 2018 Wednesday ,29 August

Between forming a cabinet and collapse in Lebanon

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

syria’s “day after” and its long night syria’s “day after” and its long night

 



GMT 07:24 2017 Thursday ,09 February

Drugmaker Teva says Israel probing kickback allegations

GMT 18:19 2012 Friday ,18 May

Hot weather to continue during weekend in UAE

GMT 03:34 2012 Saturday ,08 September

Mitsubishi motors’ outlander phev

GMT 15:20 2017 Saturday ,09 September

'Monster' Irma roars towards Florida

GMT 19:27 2015 Thursday ,01 October

Double Dutch barred in Amsterdam brothels

GMT 09:12 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Joy and hope in Liberia as George Weah sworn in

GMT 16:07 2016 Wednesday ,10 August

Rousseff impeachment in focus

GMT 12:49 2018 Thursday ,11 January

Macron urges European unity

GMT 15:16 2016 Wednesday ,08 June

EU Presents new aid to stop African Migrants influx

GMT 10:51 2017 Wednesday ,24 May

ADEC suspends registration of new students

GMT 19:19 2016 Thursday ,22 December

Lebanon the ‘post-Aleppo’ government

GMT 06:47 2018 Thursday ,04 January

Norway suspends arms exports to UAE over Yemen war

GMT 06:38 2017 Tuesday ,21 November

Putin and Assad met in Sochi

GMT 05:27 2017 Monday ,14 August

TRA to host 75th RIPE meeting in October
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice