The Arab League's decision has provided safe passage for international interference in Syria – interference said to be for the protection of civilians from the regime's violent use of force and the tyranny it has exercised for over thirty years. Such interference has also been said to be aimed at preventing the country from slipping into a civil war that would lead to dividing the country. Yet a quick look at the Syrian issue confirms that the events have taken place, and continue to take place, to the rhythm of such interference. There is not a single government or organization left that has not intervened, from Turkey to the US, France, Britain, Germany, Iran, Russia, China and the other BRICS countries, to the United Nations and the Arab League, in addition to civil and humanitarian organizations, weapons companies, oil companies, banks, smugglers and traders, without forgetting NATO, nor the European Union and its parliament… everyone has something to say on the matter. Interference then is nothing new, and the Arab League – which denounced the Syrian regime and dealt with it on such a basis, ever since its first meeting, and ever since it embraced the opposition, as represented by the Syrian National Council (SNC), founded in Istanbul under the direct sponsorship of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP – Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) – knew that the regime would not agree to its initiative, which it sent it by fax, as Damascus considers it to disparage its sovereignty and insult its pride. The Arab League knew that if the regime agreed to it, it would only be as a maneuver (twisting and turning around what Hamad Bin Jassim said). And when it found this to be impossible, Damascus did not reject the initiative, but did not ratify the protocol, relying on its friends at the Security Council – especially China and Russia, which sent its fleet to the Mediterranean and expressed its readiness to reject any resolution condemning Syria at the Security Council. This is concerning foreign interference. As for the fear of Syria slipping into civil war and being exposed to division, it is more of a wish than a fear. The Arab states are perhaps alone in not wishing to divide Syria, even if they seek to draw it away from Iran. As for the others, such as the United States and France (and naturally Israel), they have been working to achieve such an outcome for decades. Their interests require it. They look at the matter as one looks at any newspaper page about commerce, where money, influence and power play the main role. Let us remember how things were before Libya was attacked. France, Italy and the US struck deals with the Transitional Council before the invasion, and asked the latter to implement them immediately after Gaddafi was killed, without a care for the fate of the Libyan people, justifying to them the choice of a government of Islamists that sympathizes with Al-Qaeda. What matters is for the deal to go through. Did they not justify to Gaddafi everything he did? There is no wealth of oil in Syria, but its strategic “wealth” is priceless. The countries in question have begun striking deals amongst themselves and with the Transitional Council before the transition, and before it becomes the “sole legitimate representative”, in an attempt to draw the various parties of the opposition to its side, warning of the militarization of the uprising, yet encouraging defection from the ranks of the army, not criticizing the military operations carried out by defectors in every city, as they claim, and calling for the establishment of safe passages (Juppé's “humanitarian corridors”). The Arab League, and with it the “international community”, has reached a dead-end and will not back down. And the Syrian regime has reached the point of no return. All are in crisis, a crisis that will last for a very long time and result in things that the planners and the players did not have in mind, whether they are international or regional. There is no safe passage for anyone.
