Madina Newspaper IT took Hafiz Al-Assad's regime two years and an unprecedented bloody massacre to suppress the opposition 30 years ago in Hama. How much bloodshed will his son, Bashar Al-Assad, an ophthalmologist, carry out to end the revolt against his regime? At the time of Al-Assad, the father, there was not much media coverage of what was going on and it was easy to fabricate lies or distort and conceal the real situation. But at the time of Al-Assad, the son, the media is everywhere. There are social networking sites, YouTube and cellphone cameras to document and expose to the world what is going on in Syria. The father had more leeway to suppress the opposition. It seems that the task of the opposition to call for change in Syria is much easier today than it was 30 years ago. Nevertheless, despite the many tools the current opposition has, it is difficult to topple the Syrian regime. Some experts even think it is almost impossible. The special relationship between the Alawi regime in Damascus and the Mullah regime in Tehran makes it harder to oust the Syrian regime. The international community wants to impose more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program but it has to be very careful given that Tehran has close ties with Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The special ties between Tehran and Damascus complicate the situation. It makes military intervention in Syria more unlikely as it may spark a wider conflict which might be much more difficult to contain. The Arab calls for sending troops to Syria to protect civilians sound more like a moral obligation that a political one. It will never happen and Syria will never allow it to happen. Syria's rejection may prompt the Arab League to take the case to the United Nations Security Council, which will also find itself in a bind because of Russia's support for Syria. The Security Council's dilemma may force the UN General Assembly to adopt a peace resolution to militarily intervene with the consensus of all member countries. There is no veto there. But the question is: Who is ready to take military action against the Syrian regime at this time? The simplest military actions that can be taken against Syria are to impose a no-fly zone, create a military buffer zone or secure a safe passage for civilians. But it would require a large military force to monitor Syria's commitment to a no-fly zone. The same thing would be required to create a buffer zone or to secure a safe civilian passage. But it seems that Washington does not have the political will to take any of the aforementioned measures because of the upcoming presidential elections, on one hand, and the ramifications and consequences of US military intervention in Afghanistan, Iran and Libya on the American economy, on the other. For this reason, it seems that Syria is biding its time while it continues to suppress the will of the Syrian people thinking that it will defeat the opposition soon while the international community is discussing sanctions. The regime has started to lose some loyalists who have defected, decreasing its influence. The Alawis are afraid that they will pay a high price later on for linking their fate with Al-Assad's regime. Supporting the opposition, severing relations with Syria and ending the Syrian-Iranian ties would definitely overthrow the regime. It is a matter of time. The regime is trying to hold on to power while the international community chooses to wait for it to crumble without intervention. Meanwhile, the Syrian people have to pay for the waiting game. __
