What an amazing coincidence it is that on the day the Arab ministers were gathered in Cairo in order to discuss the Syrian crisis, a new oppositionist to the regime made an appearance on the internet after having hidden in his hole for many months. The leader of the Al-Qaeda organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, announced his support to what he dubbed the “intifada” in Syria. He also called on the “lions of Damascus” to rely on themselves through the Jihad instead of relying on the Arab countries, Turkey, or the west. Perhaps Al-Zawahiri's call was belated, as his organization's activity was already announced by the expert on Al-Qaeda affairs, Lebanese Minister of Defense Fayez Ghosn, who has never been known for his military or defense skills. However, he was granted that portfolio at the Lebanese cabinet in his capacity of the representative of the Marada movement leader, Suleiman Franjieh, who is known for his strong defense of the Syrian regime to the extent that he prided himself in connecting the fate of his familial leadership to the persistence of the “Al-Assad family” – in his own words – in power in Damascus. Ghosn stated that the town of Ersal on the Lebanese-Syrian border has turned into a training camp for the Al-Qaeda members, who are using the town to infiltrate into Syria and carry out operations there. When the reporters went to Ersal with the hope of seeing this new Kandahar that was discovered by the zealous minister, they only found villagers going about their daily business and hosting those who were forced to come to their town from across the border in order to escape their regime's bombing and seek medicine and food. Thus, prominent officials at the Lebanese government and within the army command had to disclaim, in the best possible manner, the statements of their minister of defense. This was in Lebanon. As for Iraq, an official at the ministry of interior, Adnan al-Assadi, who is also an official at the Da'wa Party, confirmed the passage of the “Iraqi Jihadists” from Iraq to Syria, adding that weapon smuggling operations are taking place across the border. But another official at the ministry, Ahmad al-Khafaji, soon denied the news and stressed that the Iraqi security forces are heavily deployed on the borders with Syria and that no terrorist group has gone through there. It is noteworthy that the two countries in charge of spreading the news of the so-called arrival of Al-Qaeda to Syria and the activity of the organization there, are the countries whose two governments are playing the major part in defending the crimes of the Syrian regime at the international forums. These two countries are also adopting the Syrian regime's tale about the responsibility of the “armed terrorist groups” for the events taking place in the Syrian cities. This calls for raising major interrogations on the reasons for this media campaign about Al-Qaeda's role in supporting the Syrian revolution. There are two reasons for these questions: First, all the trustworthy reports indicate that the activity of Al-Qaeda and its ability to move have declined, even in the areas that are considered to be Al-Qaeda's operations sites, and even before the assassination of its leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last May. Second, the purpose of this campaign directly serves the Syrian tale, which is based on that the movement of the Syrian opposition is staged by external hands and that the alternative, in the event of the toppling of the current Syrian regime, will consist of the terrorism and the massacres that will hit the Syrians, mainly the minorities including Alawites and Christians. This message is both directed at the Syrian domestic scene and at the external world, as the ‘scarecrow' of Al-Qaeda is suitable for use in several directions. The regimes of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya had preceded the Syrian regime in using this ‘scarecrow' and still failed in preventing the western countries from protecting the revolutions and scaring off the rebelling populations. It is a naïve thing for the Syrian regime to bet on that the current campaign concerning the access of Al-Qaeda to the “Damascus of the bonds and Jihad” – according to the statement that was reportedly made by Al-Zawahiri – will cast terror in the hearts of the Syrian people. All what such statements do is recall the famous Abou Adas video that was hung on a tree in down town Beirut, seven years ago, and that only succeeded in shifting the accusation fingers into one direction.
