Friends of Syria Meeting

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Friends of Syria Meeting

A Syrian official on Friday said that the regime of Bashar al-Assad would not leave the cities and towns where it has cracked down on the unrest until the life returned to normal and the rebels withdrew. A spokesman for the Syrian foreign ministry said that the military in the restive cities is in a state of self defense and protecting the lives of the civilians. The words of the Syrian official came hours after the appeal of the U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, who had demanded the Syrian troops to withdraw from the restive cities in a sign of good faith, and because the governmental troops are considered the stronger part.

Annan asked this as part of a six-point peace plan he presented to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and was agreed by Damascus and backed by the Western and Arab countries, as well as by the Syrian allies Russia and Syria.

Russia backed the proposal of the United Nations and the Arab League because it did not imply a condemnation of the Syrian regime and did not demand the resignation of the president Assad.

In a position on the matter, the outgoing Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that the political destiny of the president al-Assad should be decided by the people in Syria, not the Western countries.

Russia has always insisted that the Western countries were taking sides in Syria and were only condemning the government, and never the rebels, and for that matter it vetoed two United Nations Security Council resolutions on Syria, on the grounds that they may have imply the right of the international community to intervene in the restive country the way they did it in the north African Libya.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov admitted that Bashar al-Assad had made some mistakes in Syria at the beginning of the conflict, when he cracked down on peaceful protesters, but said that he must be judged for his actions by the people.

Kofi Annan’s plan to bring peace to Syria implies the ceasefire on both sides, the government and the rebels, the resumption of the humanitarian relief aid to the people in need and the dialogue between the government and the opposition to bring a transitional period.

Annan said he acknowledged the right of the Syrian government to defend itself, and that Syria would work with the United Nations toward eliminating any excuses to pressure the government in Damascus.

The foreign ministry spokesman said that “the battle to topple the state is over” and that now it was time to create a perspective for reform and development in Syria, and to prevent others from sabotaging the path of the reform.

The spokesman said that one condition for Annan’s plan to be accepted was that Syria’s sovereignty be recognized and the right to security be preserved. He added that when security is in place and the civilians are protected, the troops would leave the cities.

Syrian leadership has always stated that the unrest in the country was the work of a “terrorist conspiracy” aimed at destabilizing the country. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went as far as to say that Syria was destabilized by a conspiracy, so that Israel may take advantage of the situation in the region and project themselves as a regional power.

Assad earlier this week said that his regime would not spare any effort to implement Annan’s plan but only after the “terrorist attacks” stopped. Annan has insisted over the last few days that Syria ceasefire and that the “deadline is now.”

Western diplomats said that implementation of a ceasefire depends on the sequencing of the army pullback and the ending of the armed attacks. It would however be unpractical to think that a complete withdrawal will be made very soon.

About 30 people died over the last few days as a result of the crackdown of the troops on the restive cities of Idlib and Hama. This fuels the concern voiced by the Syrian opposition, and to some extent even by the Western allies, over the fact that Bashar al-Assad was actually stalling and using Annan’s plan to buy some more time to put the rebellion down.

The American State Secretary Hillary Clinton said that the Syrian leader must prove his commitment to the six-point plan, because he has promised to heed to similar plans in the past and did not.

One of the allies Syria has lost because of this inconsistency with its promises was Turkey, whose foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Damascus last year to demand of president Assad to end violence in Syria.

Assad promised Turkey that it would only take two more weeks to make sure that the situation was under control and that the people can return to their normal lives. He never made good on his word, and thus turned Turkey in one of the staunch critics of the regime.

Turkey announced it was ready to impose a “buffer zone” in the border zone with Syria, in Syrian territory, in order to protect the lives of the Syrian civilians who pour into Turkey after the tanks and armored vehicles have invaded the streets of the cities that rebelled against the president.

Turkey needs a solid reason to make this move or at least an international mandate to act on behalf of the international community. The plan to impose humanitarian corridors has been supported by the French presidency, and made public by foreign minister Alain Juppe.
A Syrian National Council, the umbrella that groups the main opposition factions, was hosted in Istanbul earlier this week, and a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” is to be hosted over the weekend.

The SNC discussions proved once more that the Syrian opposition was deeply divided, reflecting the situation in the country, where sectarian and ethnical divide has practically kept Assad in power.

On that occasion the Kurdish leaders left the meeting after their demands related to the self-rule rights were overlooked. The Kurds said that they feared that an Arab-dominated regime could inflict more pain in their community than the regime of Bashar al-Assad, a fear that is shared by Christian communities in the country.

Turkey is said to be ready to deal with SNC as the only representative of the Syrian people, the same way the Transitional National Council in Libya was proclaimed by the “Friends of Libya” last year. The only important message the meeting between the opposition factions conveyed was that more help is needed to fight Assad’s regime.

The United States and Turkey offered to help the Syrian rebels with “non-lethal” help, consisting in communications devises and medical aid, and Britain announced earlier this week that 500,000 pounds would be delivered to the rebels for “non-lethal” purposes.

The invitation to meet in Istanbul to talk about ways to help the opposition was refused by both Russia and China, while one of the steadfast supporters of the regime in Damascus, Iran, wasn’t invited at all.

The friends of Syria have different visions on how to end this conflict. Thus, the United States considers that the military force should be the last resort, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar consider that they should be arm the rebel forces, a plan which does not enjoy the support of the French, who say that there are enough guns in Syria already.

Turkey has manifested little expectation of Annan’s plan, saying that Assad would continue to kill until someone stops him. The position of the Turkish PM seems to have some supporters amid the Western allies.

Erdogan’s visit to Iran has a component dedicated to the different views on Syria. Some Israeli analysts advanced the idea that Erdogan wanted to press Iran into choosing between shifting position on Syria or face nuclear inspection or even international sanctions on the nuclear case.

Turkish daily Zaman says that at the joint press conference in Tehran between Erdogan and Iranian vice president Mohammed-Reza Rahimi there was no talk about Syria, but that the topic was approached in the meetings with the president and the supreme leader of Iran.

In a conference in Ankara, after the visit, Erdogan said that the ayatollah asked him to work with Iran to do something about Syria. The same request, he said was made by the Russian outgoing president Medvedev during the meeting in Seoul.

In front of the Iranian media, Erdogan said that the will of the Syrian nation should be respected and that Iran and Turkey should work together on this matter.

The Turkish foreign minister Davutoglu said that the relations with Iran would not be spoiled by the differences over Syria, and added that the fate of the president Assad should not be cause of disagreement. Even though an agreement were reached for Assad to continue in office, Davutoglu said, it is highly unlikely that the people in Syria would back such an idea.

On Wednesday, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akhbar Salehi said that Iran supported Kofi Annan’s plan because it called for the withdrawal of the troops but not for the withdrawal of president Assad.

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