When the news aired about the dissent of ten senior officers from the Syrian army - including four generals and two colonels - and their fleeing to Turkey in parallel to the announcement of the dissent of the Syrian assistant oil minister, I contacted a friend of mine inside the Syrian National Council. This rebellious friend has suffered bitterness and frustration for years, but is still able to communicate, analyze and show optimism and courage in his positions against Al-Assad's regime. He believes that Al-Assad's regime will leave and that a large faction among the Syrian people has risen and will soon destroy the effigies. He then wondered why Al-Assad was insisting on going against the reality on the street, the size of the demonstrations and the dissent of the army officers, although he knows that the Syrian revolution has no father but has only the people who are seeking dignity, freedom and the lost rights. He went on, saying that the revolution has persisted for a year and will keep showing steadfastness, even if all the people are killed and if the entire world abandons them. He said he was not surprised by Al-Assad's recent statements in which he assured that no political dialogue or process could succeed in the presence of terrorist groups and armed gangs trying to spread anarchy, and wondered sarcastically: Are the ones bombing the people with tanks and rockets, destroying homes, storming cities and depriving the people of water, food and electricity not the regime's thugs and gangs? He then expressed surprise toward this regime's lack of shame as it is spreading rumors about the infiltrators, while trying - until this day - to claim that the Syrians are armed. This influential friend then heralded the spread of fear within Al-Assad's regime and among the men of the palace, after they felt the imminent tightening of the noose around their necks and the arrival of the demonstrations to the gates of the presidential palace. Last night, I contacted a United Nations official whom I had recently met in a Gulf capital and with whom I had a conversation that I published in two articles headlined “a chat not for publication.” This official's problem is that he seldom speaks and only under condition of anonymity. This time around, I concluded from his statements that “the last solution” was on the horizon, and that the Arab pressures – and especially the Gulf ones – on Russia had started to affect and to raise its concerns, in parallel to the heightening of the hatred felt towards it on the Arab street. He also confirmed what Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was quoted as saying during his last meeting with the Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, regarding the fact that his country adopted the Arab initiative stipulating Al-Assad's surrendering of his prerogatives to his vice president in the context of Kofi Annan's mission, considering that this constituted practical and concrete progress. The demands of the Syrian people are clear, along with the Arab and international demands and the lies, arrogance and crimes of the Syrian regime. The solution no longer lies in the ending of the violence and the brutality, as the main demand has become the departure of Al-Assad's regime and the pursuit of his gangs, so that Syria can enjoy calm and stability. So far, no one in the Arab League was successful, not even the head of the Arab observers team General Dabi, who was dubbed a thug upon his arrival to Damascus, after his mission went from being that of observation in favor of the people to that of protecting the regime. Moreover, there are failed positions adopted by Arab countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria, and other Arab states that are lost such as Egypt! For their part, Saudi Arabia and its sister Gulf Cooperation Council states are acknowledged for their adoption of a more stringent rhetoric since the beginning, and their brandishing of courageous positions in the face of the Russian and Chinese stands toward the Syrian crisis. In Cairo, Saud al-Faisal accused Moscow and Beijing once again of granting the Syrian regime a license to kill the people without any pity or mercy through their jaded and frail positions toward the brutality of the regime. As to Qatar, it is also acknowledged for its role and its adoption of strong proposals, namely its call for the dispatch of Arab and international troops to Syria. Today in New York, the Syrian file is strongly returning to the Security Council in light of the meeting held by the foreign ministers of the permanent member states in a special session to discuss the issue of the “Middle East: Challenges and Opportunities,” and during which the Syrian crisis will be a top priority. There is no doubt that the Russian position witnessed some change, but Moscow is expected to adopt serious humanitarian steps to end the current crisis, instead of continuing to license the killing and to defend a criminal regime whose status has collapsed and is no longer recognized among its people, following the expansion of the scope of the demonstrations and the increasing dissents provoked by the killing and torture. To the regime, the situation in Syria oscillates between complications and escalation, while on the revolutionaries' end, all the solutions seem to be on equal grounds. Indeed, the latter no longer fear anything after they witnessed killing, and have decided to retaliate after gathering the limbs of their martyrs and announcing they were willing to sacrifice their lives for their cause. In reality, the Syrian issue no longer requires a complex mathematical equation. Syria will only become stable after the departure of Al-Assad's regime and its gangs, and this should be the Security Council position during today's meeting in New York. What is certain is that the map of the political solution or the final solution to help the Syrian people should start by recognizing the Syrian national council, and by supporting the opposition with funds and armament in case the regime were to thwart Annan's mission and continues to reject the adoption of the Arab initiative that stipulates the transfer of the president's prerogatives to his deputy. twitter|@JameelTheyabi [email protected]
