Well, the Syrian regime has finally recognized, by agreeing to the Arab League's plan, that the crisis it is facing is an internal one with the opposition, and that there is neither a foreign conspiracy nor any conspirators. Evidence of this is its agreeing to the solution drafted by the Arab League's ministerial committee, a solution aimed at meeting most of the demands raised by the opposition. Indeed, the Arab League's plan addresses only acts of violence and killing, and the necessity of withdrawing military vehicles from the cities. Those vehicles are carrying out the plan they were ordered to by the regime, and it is therefore difficult to say that they are instruments in the hands of the foreign conspiracy. Moreover, the Arab plan calls for releasing those detained in the regime's prisons, and allowing for representatives of the Arab League and the foreign media to enter Syria and find out what is happening there. This provides additional evidence to the fact that the Arab ministers are not convinced with the story of the “armed terrorist gangs” and want evidence from a neutral third party about this narrative. What it is that drove the Syrian regime to suddenly back down on its repeated accusations? What drove it to accept the “foreign interference” it had been rejecting and to place its eggs in the basket of the Arab parties it had been accusing of scheming against it, among them of course Qatar, whose main media network, Al-Jazeera, is considered by the Syrian regime to be one of the sources of its troubles? Doubtless, there is first of all the predicament reached by the regime after nearly eight months of postponed promises of reform and escalating acts of violence and killing, which even the regime itself is no longer able to hide. Indeed, it is neither able to put a stop to the protests, nor can bear to leave them to worsen even more. The issue has reached such an extent with the Syrian regime that it has become forced to exchange prisoners and hostages with those in charge of protest movements, as took place recently after it went on to kidnap one of Doctor Burhan Ghalioun's female relatives. Members of the opposition responded by kidnapping members of the security forces loyal to the regime, forcing it to exchange the kidnapped woman with them. And then there is the deterioration of security being witnessed by cities, particularly Homs and Hama, where it has begun to shift from mere armed clashes to incident of killing on the basis of ID cards between Sunnis and Alawis. All of this is now confirming day after day that the regime no longer holds alone the reins of the security solution. Indeed, the protests are increasingly taking on an armed nature, whether as a result of increasing occurrences of defection from the army, and of soldiers who have defected fleeing with their guns, or as a result of weapons entering Syria, after the protesters have begun to feel that their being killed on a daily basis required them to defend themselves by any means necessary. Furthermore, the Syrian regime has come to feel, as it seems, that the Arab card is its last card to play. The Russians and the Chinese, its last remaining allies on the international scene, have supported this card and have called on the regime to comply with it. Moreover, each of Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Araby have said clear words to President Bashar Al-Assad, signifying that the Arabs would wash their hands of the issue of Syria if this initiative of theirs were to be thwarted, with the consequences this would entail, among them turning over this issue to the UN Security Council. It is therefore a way out the regime is trying to take advantage of to catch its breath, and perhaps to prepare for another round. Yet its conditions will come at a high cost if the promise to implement the clauses that have been announced is true. Indeed, when the Syrian regime withdraws its tanks from the streets, when it allows for peaceful protests demanding its overthrow, when it allows the foreign media to come and go, cover and film Syrian cities as it pleases – when the Syrian regime does all of this, it will no longer be the regime that we know. Can the Syrian regime meet such demands and preserve itself at the same time? That is the question the Syrian opposition should today let the regime answer, without intervening to save it. Indeed, if there is a way out for the regime from its current predicament, it will be through the disagreements of the opposition over the stance on the initiative. This would allow the regime to point to opposition parties as the ones obstructing the Arab solution, especially as they are not required at this stage to meet any demand. Rather, what is required is for the regime to prove the truth of its intentions and put a stop to acts of violence and killing, in accordance with the Arab solution.
