Syrian Regime loyalists ignored the strike delivered to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad by Russia’s permanent delegate, Vitaly Churkin, when he described Al Assad’s statements as “incompatible with Moscow’s diplomatic efforts.”
The funny thing about this is that Mr Vitaly, in an interview with a Russian newspaper, understated the importance of Al Assad’s statements when he said that “what we should be focusing on is not what he says… but what he is going to do in the end.”
Churkin did not stop at that, he also warned against any incompliance on Syria’s part to Russia’s discourse stating that “if Syria sticks to Russia’s approach… they will have a chance to make it out of the crisis with dignity, but if Syria derails, the situation will toughen for them as well.”
These statements were not intended to provoke those rooting for the successes made by the Syrian Army on several fronts against armed Syrian opposition, particularly in Aleppo. They were merely reminders of the sore realities of the internal Syrian conflict; that these victories, being temporary, were out of reach if it were not for the intervention of Hizbullah first, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard secondly, followed by militias from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, and finally Russia’s aerial intervention to completely turn the tables around with the implementation of the “Scorched Earth” strategy.
Naturally, in light of the balances of powers and interests that drive states, we are not to expect that these generous “donations” in billions of Dollars, are without return, or simply for the mere sake of Al Assad’s charm; there is a price to be paid, and it is gigantic. All this will understate the independence and autonomy of the Syrian Regime, all the influence its friends and allies are trying to install in Syria, in face of all the military capacities invested in the Regime’s maintenance —military capacities that are not under Al Assad’s disposal. On the contrary, the Syrian Army is the one under the “allies” disposal, and operating in accordance to their coordination. These allies are the ones who control the progress of battles on the ground, while the President’s position is closer to being a spectator.
Al Assad is the first to sense the tolls of their intervention, naturally; as the Iranians and the Russians take over political and military decisions to the point that they are the ones now who determine what internal compromises are made and what not, which aid convoy goes where and to whom, plan battles, sign agreements with the Americans as well as Syrian opposition regarding cease-fire, exchanges of prisoners —even demographics.
The whole thing has nothing to do with the Axis of Resistance or Israel; it has nothing to do with any of these delusional scenarios that haunt the minds of some Regime loyalists there. The Russians have signed agreements and understandings with the Israelis, and started a joint commission.
The Iranians on the other hand, have been building influence in Syria for some time, seeking to reproduce the Iraqi model while the Syrian people are being driven out of their homes and forced to dislocate or take refuge outside of Syria, many are detained, on the run, or dead, and more than 40 per cent of residential houses and facilities have been destroyed by constant bombardment! So what victory are you talking about?!
On the opposite side, the triumph of “Daesh”, “Al Nusra”, or any other extremist organization will not be a victory of the Syrian people and their revolution. They are not the aspirations for which the Syrian people faced up to the regime and torture, murder, and detainment in hopes to achieve. The people did not forfeit their homes, their security, and their country’s stability for them, no; the sacrifices given were for democracy, for liberty, and for breaking free of the oppressive clutches of the police regime in Syria that has been ruling through fear for decades; Not to establish an ISIS-like regime or any other fundamentalist regime that makes the Al Assad’s Syria look like a paradise in comapirson.
In the novel “Al Mawto Amalon Shaq” by Khaled Khalifa, the main character wonders: “What do we do with blood smudged triumph?!”; this is not a victory over the enemy, but over the Syrians themselves; whomever be the victor.
