Rally in Damascus

"LandepNews"

Rally in Damascus

Syrian state television on Wednesday showed images of thousands of Syrians gathering in the central Damascus for a rally in support of president Bashar al-Assad, as an Arab League ministerial committee is expected to come to Syria to assess if a dialogue can be initiated in the restive country between the government and the opposition. The Arab League ministerial committee is led by the Qatar prime minister and is following the guidelines of the last meeting in Cairo of the pan-Arab organization, which gave Syria’s regime two weeks to end the crackdown and engage in talks with the opposition.
The Arab League convened two weeks ago in Cairo and discussed the matter of expelling Syria as a result of the violent confrontation that have been occurring for the last eight months in this country.
The vote could not lead to this outcome as other leaders of restive countries refused to cast Syria out, fearing that it would lead to a dangerous precedent for them.
Under the circumstances, the Arab League gave Bashar al-Assad an ultimatum to put an end to the violence and come to Cairo in two weeks and engage in talks that would be mediated by the AL itself. Arab leaders never said what would happen if the dialogue fails.
Opposition refuses all dialogue with the regime especially as long as the crackdown continues. The leaders of the opposition accuse the regime of staging rallies in its support even though the power in Syria is increasingly isolated.
The protesters on Wednesday are carrying the national flag and the portraits of Bashar al-Assad, and are gathered in the Omayyad Square. Washington Post reports that there number is of tens of thousands.
The regime staged a rally in Damascus soon after Russia and China vetoed the European-rafted resolution that was condemning the crackdown in Syria. On that occasion tens of thousands of Syrians gathered in the capital and expressed their support for Bashar.
Soon after the Arab League meeting two weeks ago, the regime staged a huge rally in Aleppo, the largest city in the country, which has been spared the violence so far. On that occasion people went as far as to shout: “We love you, Bashar!” a slogan that sharply contradicts the words of the people in Homs, who said by the end of the same week: “You are next, Bashar!” referring to the unexpected and violent demise of the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.
Syrian opposition, officially represented by the Syrian National Council, expressed concern over the initiative of the Arab League, which in their opinion did not draw a very clear line between the aggressor and the victim.
The Syrian National Council demanded the Arab leaders to impose the regime to allow Arab and international observers to monitor the situation. Human Rights Watch also demanded to be allowed to have independent observers to monitor the national security forces. UN reports say that more than 3,000 have been killed since the unrest began.

Rally in Damascus

It would seem that even so, the regime still has a substantial support among Syrians, especially those who had benefited the regime financially or the minority groups, which fear that a take over by the Sunni majority would make them targets to possible revenge.
This would explain the divide among the people of this society, with some of them marching in support of the president, while others being killed by hundreds as they protest against him.
The regime wants to show the Arab League it has the support of the two largest cities in the country, which would allow it to continue with the explanation that what happens in the rest of the country is no more than battling and international conspiracy supported by some of the traitors in the inside.
The international conspiracy make-believe has served Bashar to keep the international community out of his hair. In a meeting with the members of the opposition the former American ambassador to Syria Robert Ford told them they had to make their way into the minds and hearts of the people of their country and to mount a defense for what happened in Libya cannot be repeated in Syria, because it would prove Assad right to say that he was in the center of a conspiracy.
The American State Secretary Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that her country was supporting the opposition in Syria but that this opposition has not yet asked for help from the international community.
In a divided country like Syria it is very hard to determine whom the Syrian National Council actually represents, and how many Syrians are willing to actually do what the National Transitional Council has done in Libya.
Syrian protests have so far been coordinated at a local level by coordination committees, some of whose leaders are now part of the national council.
The council was symbolically recognized by the Libyan NTC and was sanctioned by the Turkish foreign minister, which had a meeting with its constituents.
It is not expected that it could have the impact of the NTC, which in its first stages was rather helpless itself and needed NATO support to push the liberation campaign.
Since the international community seems kept in a leash on the matter by Russian and Chinese stance, the only thing that could possibly worry Bashar al-Assad is the increase of the defection cases from his military ranks.
All the military troops that turn their back on his army side with the protesters, increasing the possibility of a civil war as the confrontation turn more violent by the day.

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