 |
| Assad taking questions last night |
My paraphrasing of this morning’s op-ed penned in Arabic by publisher
Abdelbari Atwan for his London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi:
There are no ifs, ands or buts. Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad is boxed in security-wise and militarily. But he has broken
free on the airwaves.
Midway through the Syria crisis, he said, “We rule on
the ground and they rule the airwaves” – meaning his Arab critics controlling
the major satellite TV networks and channels.
This has partly changed since he made that remark.
Proof is, whenever he gives an interview to a semi-obscure foreign newspaper,
his statements are widely circulated by the global media. And the public and intelligence
services hasten to read between his lines.
Assad yesterday chose to speak on the occasion of
Syria’s Independence Day through Al-Ikhbariya, one of the Syrian TV stations
blacked out by the Arab League (through satellite operators ArabSat and
NileSat).
The two interviewers had their questions thoroughly
prepared in advance. They only had to read them verbatim, since improvisation
is not only taboo but also fraught with danger.
Here are the six signals Assad transmitted via the
televised Qs & As:
1. “The West paid heavily for
funding al-Qaeda in its early stages. Today it is doing the same in Syria and
other places, and will pay a heavy price in the heart of Europe and the United
States.”
In other words, he is telling
the West: We are both facing the same enemy. If you asked me, I am prepared to
join hands with you to defeat the terror group.
2. “There is no option but victory. Otherwise it will be the end of Syria.”
He is effectively linking his stay
at the helm to Syria remaining whole as a state. He is explicitly raising the
possibility of Syria splintering along sectarian and ethnic lines in case the armed
revolution succeeded in bringing down his regime.
3. “I cannot believe that hundreds [of rebels] are entering Syria with
their weapons while Jordan is capable of arresting any single person with a
light weapon for going to resist in Palestine.”
Other than being correct, the remark makes
plain that Assad’s media, if not security and military, gloves are off with Jordan.
4. Recep
Tayyip Erdogan trades on Turkey to promote himself. His Justice and Development
Party’s foreign policy of zero problems with neighbors transmuted into zero
politics, zero insight and zero ethics.
The personal attack on Erdogan and the
berating of Turkish and Jordanian politics show how much Assad is smarting from
Ankara and Amman allowing rebels and arms free movement across their respective
Syria borders.
5. Kurds
are a natural and integral part of Syria’s social fabric. And unlike the Ottoman Empire,
Syria never massacred its Kurdish residents.
That’s a clear attempt to distance the Kurds
from Turkey and the West by highlighting their Syrian patriotism.
6. “The
attempt is to invade Syria with outside forces from different nationalities… The
aim is to make Syria subservient and submissive to the Big Powers and the West,
or to obscurantist, extremist forces.”
It is too early to judge whether such
scaremongering works or not.
Unlike his
previous speeches and interview, President Assad seemed on edge last night. Otherwise
he would not have warned the conflict could spread beyond Syria’s borders.
“He slammed the
door shut in the opposition’s face, chiefly in the face of the Syrian
Opposition Coalition. He said the opposition did not represent political
parties, had no presence on the ground, lacked popular support and was not free
from outside control.
“All these
charges contradict the recent charm offensive of his aides, who were insisting
that the regime welcomed dialogue with its opponents.
“Assad yesterday
classified his regime opponents either as apostates or mercenaries. Such
categorization means he has elected to press ahead with a bloody military
solution. All his regime’s previous talk of dialogue was meant to gain time, no
more no less.
‘Being offshore
does not shame Syria’s independent national opposition figures. Had they chosen
to stay in opposition at home, they would have been thrown in jail or put six
feet under.
“Chances of a
political solution not only receded last night, but also evaporated.
“This means, we
are staring down the barrel of a gun loaded for a long war, which can only end
with one side steamrolling the other…”
