What Hafez inflicted on Bashar...and Syria

The third Russian-Chinese veto against the proposed international sanctions on the Syrian regime symbolises all the previous deliberate and unintentional calls to shed more Syrian blood and commit more crimes against the Syrian people. The latest veto could be considered a clear call to President Bashar al-Assad to stick by the security solution and his insistence to remain in power even if his only way to do so is by getting rid of his own people. Isn't there anybody in either Moscow and Beijing who understands that the Syrian regime has no future and that any attempt to prolong its rule increases the chances of a divided Syria? The age of miracles finished long ago and there is no hope the Syrian regime can survive. The regime that was founded by Hafez al-Assad should now be history. This non-viable regime which Bashar has inherited from his father is the source of all the problems he suffers from now, mainly because the organisation of this regime doesn't reflect any political culture. If the late Hafez al-Assad had the least level required of the right political vision, he would refuse to transfer power to his son. First for his son's and his family's favour, and second for the sake of Syria's future. Assad the father was supposed to let the Syrians decide how they want their country to be ruled after three decades of dictatorship and oppression under Hafez' rule from 1970 to 2000, plus four years between 1966 and 1970 in which Hafez was a leading figure in the ruling regime as a defence minister. Those who talk about Hafez al-Assad's advantages and his "effective strategies" are naive people who don't have a clue about the basics of politics. Hafez remained in power for such a long time only thanks to the fact that he was needed by foreign powers to serve certain objectives in the region throughout his era. He reached the presidential position in 1970 as a reward for facilitating Israel's seizure of Golan when he was a defence minister in 1967. Throughout his era, Hafez did all that he was required to do; smuggling weapons to Lebanon, arming the Palestinian groups and supporting the sectarian militias. His troops and security apparatus had committed several massacres in Lebanon. This massacre took the lives of thousands of Christian and Muslim Lebanese in addition to the Palestinians, not to mention the long list of the prominent Lebanese figures he assassinated. The Palestinian leaders then didn't understand that they were serving Assad's plans by being involved in Lebanon's civil war since 1975, and by being involved in a military conflict against the Jordanian regime in 1970. Unfortunately some Palestinian leaders still fail to understand this fact. Hafez al-Assad's favourite fobbies were exploiting the Palestinian cause to serve his own plans, and watching the Lebanese killing each other and destroying their country. This was the fate that Jordan skipped thanks to King Hussein's reasonability and precognition. The need for Hafez al-Assad increased after that. In 1980 he gathered his troops across his country's borders with Jordan to foil the Arab League summit held then in Amman. This conduct was carried out mainly to stop the growing influence of the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. But the late Iraqi president later ruined his country's future by himself, as he was unintelligent enough to push Iraq to a series of disasters until he committed his worst crime in 1990 by invading Kuwait. This invasion followed the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran from 1980 to 1988 which left the Iraqi people exhausted and divided. Hafez al-Assad knew that what was required by Israel and the United States is draining the Arabs' coffers in a series of wars, and keeping the Gulf kingdoms' security dependent on the United States' military presence in the region. So Hafez al-Assad decided to support the Islamist-ruled Iran which had always aimed to destroy all signs of civilisation in the Arab world. Hafez used his alliance with Iran to blackmail the Arabs, especially the Gulf region. Hafez did all what he was required to do, including making south Lebanon the only open Arab front in the Arab-Israeli conflict since the ceasefire agreed between Syria and Israel in 1974. This situation was perfect for Israel which always found valuable cooperation from Assad, and we can take example for this fact from what happened in 1976 when the Israelis asked the Syrian army not to enter south Lebanon to give them the opportunity to attack the Palestinian groups there whenever they want. On top of all the previously mentioned disasters, Hafez al-Assad impoverished his country by spending massive amounts of money on Russian weapons which he never used except in oppressing and humiliating his people. Syria reached a level of deterioration where its capital city, Damascus didn't contain a single well-equipped hospital, and when Hafez's vice president, Farouk al-Sharaa had a heart attack in 1999, he was transferred to Beirut to be treated by Lebanese doctors in the American University Hospital. Hafez al-Assad was always a tool used by foreign powers to play certain roles in the region, and it's a wonder that there are some people who call these roles a "regional influence of Syria" while the fact is that this influence is just an illusion. Hafez al-Assad might have been a guileful leader but he was never an intelligent one. If he has just an average intelligence he would never make his son heir to Syria's presidency. The current president, Bashar al-Assad, who is already called a "former president" by my Lebanese friend Nihad al-Mashnouq, is now paying the price of what his father had inflicted on him and on Syria as well. Bashar inherited a regime supported only by the security agencies. If such a regime was viable the Soviet Union would still exist, and Stalin's statues could be seen everywhere in all the Russian cities.     --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.