What happens in Damascus decides Syria’s fate

The writer argues that since 2011, the regime has strived at changing the essence of the revolution from “a spontaneous moderate popular uprising to a civil, regional and open-ended sectarian one aiming at the uprooting and expulsion of the Sunni Arabs.”

The writer then explains that the regime adopted a three-part strategy to ensure such a change; Assad called on “non-Syrian sectarian Shiite militias to fight for the regime under the religious order and military command of the Vali-e-Faqih in Iran”; he ordered for the release of thousands of brainwashed prisoners turned-extremists in hopes to divert the opposition away from “moderation and peaceful means to belligerency and flagrant sectarian confrontation”; and he exploited the notion of ‘Alliance of Minorities.’

“This strategy has created the political-humanitarian catastrophe we witness today,” the writer argues, adding that “religious and sectarian incitement in the West completed the mission as it provided an excuse, not only to ignore the uprising, but also to deprive it of the means to even defend itself.”

The writer then states that “what Secretary Kerry said about him and Sergei Lavrov making clearer steps to move forward… that may lead to negotiations on steps on how to end the fighting, is just tragicomic lying,” arguing that “Kerry thinks he can still sell the Syrian people the illusion that Washington is sincere about ending their suffering and finding the elusive political solution.” 

However, the writer argues that the Syrian people know too well that the US would never confront Russia and Iran and that Washington refused from the outset to depose Assad by force, adding that American political and military support of the Syrian uprising has never been serious, the only declared change in Washington’s position vis-à-vis Syria being its continuous convergence with Moscow’s and any talk about a political solution is meaningless as long as military operations continue, while the Assad regime, the Russians, the Iranians and their henchmen carry on with their crimes of demographic change.

The writer concludes by warning that “the fate of Syria is decided in Greater Damascus, and the fate of Greater Damascus is decided by the silenced southern fronts and the cheap theatricals of the Geneva talks.”