Consciences were not moved by the ongoing Syrian disaster for the last 19 months, by the death of more than 30,000 people, the loss of tens of thousands, the displacement of millions and the destruction of cities and villages, whether entirely or partially. Hence, it is unclear why UN-Arab Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi wants them to be moved now, on the eve of Eid al-Adha, considering that to those who reaped destruction throughout Syria and pursued its people with killing, kidnapping, displacement and the obliteration of their homes, the Eid is just another day on the calendar of murder, violence and destruction. We do not think that Brahimi is naïve to the point of believing that his call upon these consciences will lead to truce during the Eid. But his mere call means he reached the conclusion that all his efforts – whose content is still unknown – failed to render the day of Eid al-Adha less bloody than the other days. What is noticeable is that this failure comes after the truce proposal was supported by the main allies of the Syrian regime, namely Iran and Russia which issued an international resolution to back it up. Moreover, this call upon the consciences followed Brahimi's meeting with President Bashar al-Assad who rejected the idea, bringing the situation back to the angle from which he perceives the crisis, i.e. to the presence of armed groups supported by foreign states. According to the regime, truce would feature the opposition's relinquishing of its weapons and the announcement by the supporters of the Syrian people's demands around the world, of their loyalty to the regime. If these are the regime's conditions for truce during the Eid, one can only imagine how it perceives itself and the Syrian people and how far it will go in its demands when the time comes to discuss a settlement. These demands will not be limited to the Syrian domestic scene and the governance methods in the future, and will also be related to the neighboring states and the bases on which they will with the Syrian internal arena. In reality, the regime went far enough in revealing the way it perceived its people and they way they should be led. Hence, these people should go back to applauding and praising the men of the regime, while grateful for being allowed to live as long as they are docile and submissive. As for their demands to attain their rights and their organization of protests, they will be sanctioned as it was seen in the country for the last 19 months. In regard to the future, the regime also revealed – via the latest presidential pardon – that the people will be faced with destruction, killing, displacement, arrests and the release of criminals, many of whom will join the thugs once they are freed, in order to chase down, kill and pillage the homes of the civilians. On the other hand, threats, blackmail and explosions will be adopted as tools to deal with the neighboring states on the diplomatic level. Samples of these dealings were seen in the attempts to instate new equations with Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, through violence and threats to carry out violence, in order to reach some sort of a tutelage such as the one witnessed in the Land of the Cedars. Indeed, the regime is accusing the neighboring states of backing up the armed groups, and demanding that this backup be discontinued to move from the stage of supporting the demands of the Syrian people, or that of abstinence, to the stage of supporting the regime with all that this means in terms of commitment to its battle which will continue against its people. In other words, it wants to use these neighboring states at its service. These are the headlines of the solution put forward by the regime to approve the Eid truce, and they are not based on any human conscience or moral standards and do not take into account the tortured souls, including Brahimi's. They are political calculations and balances of power in a major battle, and there is no room for conscience at this level. If there is one useful thing the UN envoy could do, it would be to find ways to change these calculations and balances in favor of the Syrian people who were able to move his conscience.
