HASSAN TAHSIN The Syrian government's suppression and killing of its own people have led to the division of the country's army between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime. The international community has taken some initiatives to halt the bloodshed and killing of innocent civilians, but these have not been effective mainly because of the tough position taken by Russia together with China in safeguarding the rulers of Damascus. Kofi Annan, the first UN-Arab League peace envoy, made some efforts but to no avail, mainly because of the intransigence of the Assad regime. UN military observers visited Syria to explore peacekeeping prospects, but they also left the country after emphasizing that a peaceful resolution of the conflict was impossible. Then, it was the turn of the second UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to embark on an apparently impossible mission. So far, he has not offered anything concrete, and this is not his fault but rather due to the intransigence of the Damascus rulers. Then there was an announcement by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi about an initiative to reach out to four major regional powers in an attempt to halt the escalating violence in Syria. The initiative aimed at ensuring the active participation of Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to find a peaceful negotiated solution to the crisis which would be satisfying to all the parties involved in the conflict. But the initiative has yet to be kick-started. Perhaps, this is because of Morsi's preoccupation with the unstable political situation in Egypt. The stark disagreement between Washington and Moscow on the Syrian issue takes us back to the days of the Cold War between the East and the West. The United States and its European allies have begun to support the rebels and the Syrian resistance, and they can depose Bashar Al-Assad, especially as the Russian fleet has departed from its former Syrian naval bases while the US Sixth Fleet remains based in Naples. With the ongoing brutal repression of the Syrian people by the Assad army and Washington's strategy in the region, it is possible that there could be military intervention to complete the destruction of Syria, as was done in Libya earlier. This would be accomplished by NATO, and not by any one or two countries alone. NATO has approved member state Turkey's request for deploying Patriot anti-missile systems along its border with Syria. When Turkey made the formal request for this in order to bolster its border defense, many NATO member countries especially the US and France responded positively. NATO's head Anders Rasmussen suggested that the alliance would consider Turkey's request “as quickly as possible”. But this decision by NATO has made the situation worse. Although the batteries of Patriot missiles serve only a defensive, and not an offensive, purpose, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that this act could result in a dangerous armed conflict. Of course, Damascus condemned the missile deployment, with a source at the Syrian foreign ministry calling it “a fresh provocative step.” However, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu assured Moscow that the deployment of Patriot missiles was “purely defensive in nature and there is no cause for worry for Russia.” As for Iran, its foreign ministry said Turkey's request for a defensive missile system would further aggravate the conflict in Syria.
In a diplomatic effort to end the violence, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently received a delegation from the domestic Syrian opposition, including members of the National Coordination Committee headed by Hassan Abdul Azim. The meeting was in line with Russian policy to hold negotiations with the Syrian government and various opposition groups to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis. The Russian foreign ministry emphasized that Moscow's basic position is to ensure the involvement of all the concerned Syrian parties in an internal negotiation process and guarantee implementation of agreements reached in Geneva in June this year. The ministry also stressed that its basic goal is to persuade the parties to sit down at the negotiating table to find a solution to this tragic conflict that has continued unabated for over one and a half years. But the West is also serious about taking its own initiative. It has asked NATO military experts to explore the possibility of deploying eight missiles in Turkish cities, including Diyarbakir, Urfa, Malatya, Gaziantep in Southeastern Anatolia, along the border with Syria. This was to ensure the protection of Turkey, a key member of NATO, by enabling Ankara to respond in case of any Syrian aggression. In such an eventuality, NATO would be dragged into the Syrian quagmire. However, most countries in the NATO alliance see the Syrian conflict as a local issue with Europeans having little to do with it. On the other hand, Washington and Tel Aviv know that NATO's role would lead to Syria's destruction and set it back hundreds of years. — Hassan Tahsin is an Egyptian writer and political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]
