The battle between the Syrian regime and the opposition has reached the capital's streets. As the confrontation is progressing, so is the deep sectarian division that is now a characteristic of the revolution. The regime is drowning itself and drowning the Alawite sect along with it, through its claims of preserving the Alawites' interests and by terrorizing them of what will come after the revolution. Meanwhile, the opposition is increasingly being associated with the majority of the Syrians. Thus, a new image is now added to the sectarian minority rule in Syria that has been in place ever since Hafez al-Assad staged his coup against Salah Jadid in 1970: the image of a regime that does not have the support of the popular majority and one that is persisting despite the rejection of most of the Syrians. This image grows clearer with the expansion of the military and diplomatic defections, including those of clans, families and prominent Sunni figures that had supported the regime for decades. This image grows even clearer when one looks at the identity of the rebelling cities that the regime had been luring for a long, with economic benefits in return for these cities accepting the status quo - and denied from having any say in running the country. This specifically applies to Aleppo and Daraa as well as to the families of Homs and Rastan that had supported the late President, Hafez al-Assad, and grudgingly accepted his son's succession. They had done so with the hope that they will have a wider political horizon with the regime under the new young president and with the hope that they will see an expansion of the sectarian loyalty base that he had opted for. Following all the Syrian cities that rebelled against the regime and suffered under the oppression of its military machine, the many lost lives, the destruction of property, and the loss of the savings of a lifetime for most families, now comes the turn of the Sunni areas in Damascus. One of the very significant indications is that the Midan area was one of the capital's regions that witnessed very heavy battles yesterday, although the people of the Midan had not rebelled against the ruling regime ever since their rebellion against the French occupation in the 1920s. Their rebellion back then led to the demolition of their houses just like it is happening now. Thus, the people of Damascus are now fighting against the “nationalistic" regime the same way they fought against the foreign occupation in the past. They are ready to pay a hefty price in order to get rid of that regime just like they had done to win the battle of their independence. In light of successive and rapidly evolving developments in Syria, the statement that Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, made during his press conference yesterday was quite strange. Lavrov spoke about the “major popular support" that the Syrian president still enjoys. The Russian foreign minister cannot be possibly unaware of the events on the ground especially that his country is now directly involved in supporting Al-Assad. In addition, Lavrov cannot be possibly unaware of the reality behind the masquerade staged by the Syrian regime through the appointment of “a Minister of State for National Reconciliation" in order to carry out negotiations with the opposition. Even Kofi Annan himself did not fall for this masquerade during his latest meeting with the Syrian president. But at the end of the day, Moscow is actually not benefitting from this position; nor is it benefitting the Syrian regime. On the contrary, Moscow is pushing the regime to become more inflexible by refusing to make any serious moves against it in the Security Council. This will only lead to expanding the circle of the civil war and to the subsequent rise in the killing rates, thus leading to the speeding up of the bloody fall of the regime's major figures as they lost their chance at settlement or reconciliation with their people.
