By Amer Al Sabaileh

Al-Sharaa: “We must be in the position of defending Syria’s existence. We are not in a battle for the survival of an individual or a regime.”

In his last interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa communicated some extremely important messages, which were clearly directed to a number of recipients including the United States, Syria’s allies, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, the Syrian opposition and, above all, the stubborn regime of Bashar Al-Assad, who still believes in a military solution to the Syrian crisis.
Al-Sharaa’s message was directed to Brahimi, who previously tied his upcoming visit to Damascus to “positive signals” from the Syrian regime:

“Several issues must be tackled in order to reach a solution,” Al-Sharaa said. “Nobody has the illusion that things will return to what they used to be, because you cannot turn back the clock.”

Al-Sharaa also criticized The positive signs regarding a fertile atmosphere across the regime towards a political settlement also received some criticisms: “Lakhdar Brahimi keeps repeating in his statements that things are going from bad to worse. I cannot deny this...but the problem is that Mr. Brahimi is slow and careful, while events on the ground are accelerating and becoming more violent.”

The timing of Al-Sharaa’s comments is significant, as they come in the wake of the Geneva consultative meeting between the US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Brahimi, who claimed progress in their efforts to coordinate Russian-American visions of an exit strategy for the Syrian crisis.

Al-Sharaa was keen to highlight the need to stop the destruction in Syria, admitting that there can be no winners or losers in Syria. He suggested a new direction for Syrian discussions, insisting that neither the [Syrian] National Coalition, the Istanbul Council, the National Coordination Body, nor any other opposition faction, be it civilian or armed by external ties, can claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian People.

He compared all of these parties to the current regime in Syria, which in spite of its ideological army and its confrontation parties lead by the Baaths, years of experience and rooted bureaucracy, will not be able to achieve change and progress without taking on new partners who can contribute to maintaining the fabric of the homeland, the integrity of its territory and its regional sovereignty.
Al-Sharaa’s comments also contained a message for the international community, especially U.S., when he insisted that “the solution has to be Syrian, but through a historic settlement, which would include the key regional countries and the members of UN Security Council.”

“This settlement must include stopping all shapes of violence, and the creation of a national unity government with wide powers,” Al-Sharaa said. “This should be accompanied by the resolution of sensitive dossiers related to the lives of people and their legitimate demands.”

It is important also to notice that Al-Sharaa’s statement carries implications for the region: “I am not exaggerating when I say that reaching a historic settlement for the Syrian crisis might pave the way for an international environment of solving other important issues, through political means and not through military confrontation,” he said.

It is clear that the Syrian military establishment has chosen Al-Sharaa to function as a channel of communication between Syria and international, regional and national powers. He actually admitted that even Bashar Assad does not fully know what is happening in Syria, owing to the complexity of the situation. However, he also admitted that Assad makes no secret of his belief that a decisive victory can only be achieved militarily.

Many in the Baath party, the National Progressive Front (NPF) and, most importantly, the military forces, have been convinced from the onset of the crisis that there is no alternative to a political solution and that there is no turning back.

Al-Sharaa’s comments many encouraging signs. It is therefore important that the international community gets the message and realizes that there are very few chances left to avoid catastrophe in Syria. It is imperative that we to look past the superficial in Al-Sharaa’s recent comments and read the deeper message: “Either we find a comprehensive settlement to all the issues or the whole region plummets into a dark tunnel leading to complete destruction.”


Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh
http://amersabaileh.blogspot.com