The Russian initiative to thwart the sabotage plan

The tendency

The Russian initiative to thwart the sabotage plan

The idea of an international contact group or international conference put forward by Russia to support the initiative of international envoy Kofi Annan, represents an attempt to correct the course of this initiative in a way reflecting the new international and regional balances produced by the Syrian steadfastness in its resistance against the global war.

Firstly, ever since the launching of Kofi Annan’s initiative, it has been clear that the United States, Israel, the Gulf-Turkish alliance and the NATO states have drawn up a plan to sabotage it through their ongoing determination to prevent the discontinuation of violence via networks that are smuggling weapons and funds to the terrorist gangs on Syrian soil, the unleashing of the Al-Qaeda and takfiri groups and the exportation of its fighters from all around the world into Syria. The international alliance to sabotage Annan’s mission came together via the so-called Syria’s Friends Group, which held meetings in more than one capital and whose command was offered to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. The understanding over Annan’s initiative at the Security Council constituted in itself a clear American submission to the new international balance produced by Syria’s steadfastness and to the rise of the Russian role which is closely accompanying the Syrian file on the international level, ever since the double Russian-Chinese veto blocked the way before the Western, Gulf and Turkish attempts to escalate the war on Syria through a resolution at the Security Council. The Americans thus succumbed to the stringent Russian will, which was seen through their recognition of the fact that the mission being carried out by Annan and the international observers should be subjected to the consent of the Syrian national state and its sovereign principles. It was also seen when they recognized –in accordance with the content of the initiative- the principle of ending the calls on President Al-Assad to step down, the talk about the transitional process and the similar nonsense which was repeatedly reiterated at the time in the international and regional backstage and in the statements of presidents and foreign ministers based on the conspiracy formula relayed by Hamad Bin Jassem and Nabil al-Arabi upon American orders.

Secondly, in light of the existing balances at the Security Council, the initiative did not tackle an issue which was the main reason behind the failure of the Arab initiative, i.e. pressuring the sides involved in the war on Syria to get them to stop providing the terrorist gangs with weapons and funds. Indeed, the colonial West and its agents in the region have always denied the presence of armed gangs and opposition movements carrying arms, as well as the presence of networks smuggling weapons into Syria, thus repeatedly denying the tale of the Syrian state in regard to the events. However, Annan’s initiative featured recognition of the presence of armed opposition groups, which marked progress in itself. Nonetheless, at the level of the clause stipulating the ending of violence, the initiative did not tackle the arrangements and the measures that ought to force those involved, namely the Turkish, Qatari and Saudi governments and the Arab neighboring states, to stop harboring the armed gangs and allowing the smuggling of weapons across the border. The latter include Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.

Thirdly, the international contact group proposed by Russia aims at correcting the path of Annan’s mission and at reaching a binding international and regional reality that would end the financial, security and military interferences that are supporting the continuation of violence and preventing the accomplishment of the initiative to reach the point of disarmament and the launching of dialogue. The American objection voiced against the Russian proposal focused on one key point, i.e. Iran’s participation, because the United States is well aware of the fact that this would mean a public recognition of Iran’s decisive role - alongside Syria - in the new regional system. And while the Americans proposed Saudi Arabia’s and Qatar’s participations, Russia expanded the scope of the participating states to include Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Fourthly, based on the Russian vision, the discussions during this conference will focus on pushing towards the success of Annan’s mission, which would mean the adoption of practical and reliable measures to prevent the smuggling of weapons and arms to the armed gangs and the practicing of direct influence over the various opposition movements which are engaged in infighting to get them to announce their commitment to the ending of violence and the principle of dialogue with the national state headed by President Bashar al-Assad, as a framework for any political solution which Russia and China are clearly saying should be the result of domestic Syrian understanding. Recently, Moscow and Beijing reiterated their condemnation of the opposition movements involved in the terrorist armed operations on the ground, at a time when we witnessed the dissipation of the American attempt to provoke massacres aiming at shifting the discussion away from the main topic, i.e. the toppling of the plan to sabotage the settlement process featured in Annan’s mission. At this level, and despite the American pressures, Annan was forced to recognize the crimes of the opposition’s armed elements against the citizens, mentioning a third party which in reality is no other than the takfiri death squads dispatched by the Americans and their agents to Syria.

The Americans and these agents of theirs are sensing an imminent transformation in international and regional balances, which will cost them their control over the war on Syria. For their part, the external opposition movements are anticipating their political and moral collapse following the discontinuation of violence, the acceptance of dialogue with the Syrian state, and consequently their engagement in a test, which will reveal their meager size in Syrian society. The first statements issued by Hillary Clinton and Ahmet Davutoglu, at a time when Fredrick Hoff was visiting Moscow to discuss the Russian proposal which was accepted in principle by the American administration, are nothing but a mere expression of the disappointment of those involved in the escalation of terrorism and violence, and their inability to deter the prevailing equations.

News Analysis

War with Syria not over it

The Western and especially the American circles, along with some regional sides involved in the war on Syria, are promoting a false conception of the nature and goals of this war through the use of the expression the “conflict over Syria.” This aims at giving the impression that what has been happening since last March is an international-regional conflict to divide power inside of Syria, while some good-intentioned Arab writers and analysts fell in this cultural trap.

Firstly, the Syrian people ended the era of conflict over Syria a long time ago, especially since the 1970 corrective action. This reality was enhanced ever since President Bashar al-Assad decided to confront the American empire alone in 2003, after all the superpowers around the world adopted cautious positions and after their leaders started avoiding friction with the raging American bull that became engaged in a display of power via the occupation of Iraq in order to intimidate the competing forces. Nonetheless, ever since Baghdad’s fall, Syria has acted as the most prominent regional and international player in the face of the American empire, its allies around the world and in the region and especially Israel. The last chapter of the conflict with Syria summarizes the outcome of critical years in the region’s history, during which President Al-Assad continued to oppose the president of the United States at the level of each and every detail. This was the case during Colin Powell’s famous visit to Damascus following the occupation of Iraq, during the July 2006 war which was led by George Bush and covered up by the states that took part in the Saint Petersburg summit – including Russia and China at the time- as well as during the Gaza war which followed the decisive Lebanese victory. Hence, Al-Assad, who led his country from a position of strength and determination to one of liberation throughout the region in partnership with Iran and the resistance forces, constituted a prominent headline for the rise of the Syrian role which was also pushed by the momentum of the victories achieved by the resistance alliance at the time.

Secondly, the project which was supported by President Bashar al-Assad and which he tried to implement through the establishment of international and regional partnerships stemming from Syria’s geographic and strategic position, constituted a decisive headline in the conflict with Syria. This project which was considered by the United States as being a major threat facing its colonial hegemony and that of Israel, was the main reason behind the war on Syria and the plan to destroy Syria’s strength, which set the foundation for a new international and regional alliance revolving in America’s and Israel’s space, in order to lead the global war that has been ongoing for about a year and a half. At this level, the Turkish, Qatari and Saudi roles are mere details drawn up by the American-Israeli command which became active on the media, political and intelligence levels to mobilize all the elements of pressures and influence against the Syrian strength that is led by President Al-Assad, knowing that the latter turned down all the offers and enticements presented by France, Turkey and Qatar in particular, just he had turned down Colin Powell’s conditions.

Thirdly, any superpower around the world targeted by a plan as fierce as the one drawn up for Syria and as costly as the war on Syria, including the United States itself, is bound to be affected on the security and economic levels due to the sanctions, the blockade, the sabotage operations, the wide scale media instigation, the espionage tools, the smuggling of weapons and funds and the unleashing of the terrorist and murderous gangs. The outcome of the war on Syria is the natural result of this cosmic campaign for which the United Nations, the Arab League and all the hostile tools of diplomatic, political and economic action were mobilized to destroy Syrian strength, then to attempt to tame it following the failure of the destruction. It is a conflict with Syria, not over it, because the groups collaborating with the West do not enjoy – with the recognition of that West - any real popular weight, at a time when the people are increasingly rallying around the command of President Bahsar al-Assad. Moreover, these collaborating groups are - according to American descriptions - futile, dismantled and engaged in infighting, while the gangs facing the Syrian state and its army on the ground are similar to the mercenaries who were recruited by the Americans in the past decades in more than one state around the world, namely in Nicaragua, El-Salvador and in Vietnam before that.

Fourthly, it is the conflict with Syria over the new regional balances, which will emerge following the defeat of the American empire and its Israeli base in the East. As to the international and regional immunity enjoyed by Syria thanks to its partnership with Russia and China, the BRICS group, the Latin American states, Iran and the resistance powers, it is the fruit of the Syrian strength which was always present on the field as a liberation and independence power supporting all the states and forces opposed to American hegemony, and engaged in fierce and costly conflicts against the Zionist entity and the Western colonial alliance and its tools since 1981, i.e. back when it supported the Islamic revolution in Iran as a liberation and independence movement against Israeli colonial domination. Throughout the last three decades, it acted as the backbone of the independence and resistance system in the East, and the entire world should remember that Syria has deterred the NATO troops which were introduced into Lebanon to protect the May 17 agreement, hosted and supported the Lebanese resistance against Zionist occupation and clashed with the American air force in Lebanon’s skies before the administration of former American President Ronald Reagan succumbed through what was known as the Murphy-Assad agreement. Since that time, the conflict with Syria has been caused by its support to the resistance movement, its liberation role in the Arab region and its thwarting of all the settlement plans aiming at liquidating the Palestinian cause. It also managed the negotiations stage following the Madrid conference and used it to enhance the Lebanese resistance and rebuild the Lebanese army on the basis of an Arab combative doctrine.
In each colonial adventure which targeted the region during the last thirty years, starting with the war on Iran which was funded by the Gulf rulers and ending with the invasion of Lebanon and the occupation of Iraq, the American planners have reached the conclusion that the Syrian complex will deter all their projects, the last of which was the one they dubbed the New Middle East. They thus decided that war on Syria was the last available approach to undermine the resistance of the East in the face of Western-Israeli colonial hegemony and avoid the recognition of the new balances in the region, ones which were established thanks to the Syrian strength.

Decisive confrontations

The Syrians and those who love Syria are wondering about the reasons behind the leniency in dealing with the armed groups during the couple of months which followed the Baba Amr operation, one in which the Syrian Arab army appeared capable of carrying out qualitative operations. This leniency coincided with the arrival of the international observers and was accompanied by a dangerous escalation carried out by the armed men, but also by a foreign political campaign.
This was especially seen in the perpetration and promotion of massacres against the civilians in Houla, Rif Hama and Daraa to justify the amendment of Annan’s mission and the development of the observers’ role. Ever since the speech delivered by President Al-Assad last week, the army launched qualitative operations in a number of provinces to cleanse several pockets which have turned into dens, from which the armed groups are setting out to implement intelligence and military operations which fall in the context of a greater plan drawn up by foreign sides.

The arenas of confrontation include the Al-Hiffa region in Rif Latakia, Al-Qabun in Rif Damascus, Ezaz in Rif Aleppo, Basra in the Daraa province and the Homs-Edlib-Hama axis. The sounds of clashes and the echoes of the shells are being heard at night in several areas of the major cities, which is prompting the people to wonder about the reality of what is happening. In the meantime, what is actually happening despite the fierce battles in which the army is engaged, is the beginning of salvation for which the Syrians have been yearning. All the Syrians are required to shout with one voice on the squares of the cities in support of the army and in honor of its martyrs.

Arab File

Syria

Syrian President Bahsar al-Assad announced in a speech before the new Syrian parliament that over a year into the incidents, the international and regional roles were exposed after they moved from one failure to another. He thus added: “We must confront the problem, not flee it,” indicating that terrorism was striking all the sides without any exception. He then considered that political reform will not fix the situation because terrorism was dissociated from political action, stressing that the doors were still open and that the political course will be completed with the formation of a new government taking into account the new political powers and the new balance at the People’s Assembly. He concluded by saying that terrorism must be fought to heal the country, assuring there will be no leniency with the terrorists and that national security was a red line.

On the other hand, Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmud condemned the cooperation of the Arabsat and Nilesat administrations with the recent call issued by the Doha meeting to discontinue the broadcasting of the Syrian satellite channels. He considered that the goal behind the decision was to conceal what was truly happening in Syria from the internal and external public opinions, in order to serve the campaign of lies and misleading practiced by some satellite channels with the support of the Gulf States standing behind the decision.

Doctor Bashar al-Jaafari, Syria’s permanent envoy at the United Nations, assured in an address before the General Assembly that Syria was willing to offer all it could to ensure the success of Annan’s plan and that its doors were open to all those who wanted comprehensive national dialogue and real reform. He assured that several international sides, apart from the Syrian government, presented numerous reports enjoying credibility in regard to the massive human rights violations committed by the armed terrorist groups in Syria, mentioning among others the kidnappings in exchange for ransoms, the detention of innocent hostages –namely the Lebanese pilgrims whose fate is still unknown- torture and executions targeting security and police elements, as well as civilians perceived by these armed gangs as being loyal to the government. Moreover, the armed groups in Syria are recruiting children in the fight against the government and using civilians as human shields.

Egypt

The second round of the Egyptian presidential elections was launched between MB candidate Mohammad Morsi and Ahmad Shafik. The Egyptian Diaspora had already started to cast its votes.

The Cairo criminal court sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison and acquitted his sons Alaa and Gamal against the backdrop of a corruption case, along with leaders at the Interior Ministry who were being tried in court in the case of the killing of demonstrators. On the other hand, Tahrir Square witnessed protests during which the demonstrators demanded the halting of the presidential elections and the formation of a civilian presidential council which would include a number of candidates who exited the presidential race and independent figures. They also called for the cleansing of the judiciary and the media and the formation of revolutionary courts to prosecute the symbols of the former regime in public.
Head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi said he will not allow the staging of the second round of the presidential elections on June 16 and 17 before the formation of the constituent assembly.

Israeli File

The Israeli papers that came out this week tackled the sentence issued against deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying that it ended a key part of the accountability process for the past actions, mentioning that this process was undergone by each revolution since the president was not only deposed but also sanctioned. Moreover, the case of the five buildings in the Beit El settlement occupied the main headlines of the Israeli papers this week, after the Supreme Court ordered their evacuation. This case had triggered desputes within the government, at a time when the papers pointed to an American-Israeli willingness to impose a new package of sanctions on Iran and enhance cooperation between them at the level of the electronic war. In this context, the two sides will launch rounds of talks to exchange information and expertise at the level of the American and Israeli institutions.

On the other hand, the papers focused on two other prominent issues, i.e. the acute mudslinging between former Chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak against the backdrop of what is known as the Harpaz Affair, and the decision of the prime minister to launch new construction projects in the West Bank areas, after Knesset had turned down the draft law legitimizing construction on privately-owned Palestinian land.

Lebanese File

The city of Tripoli is still witnessing clashes from time to time, using new and sophisticated types of weapons and leading to the fall of dead and injured. Prime Minister Najib Mikati held an expanded meeting during which it was decided to lift the political cover off the armed men and to ask the security and military apparatuses to strongly deter all those who violate the law. The army and the internal security forces started to deploy in heated areas based on the security plan drawn up during a security meeting headed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel in Tripoli. For their part, the Islamic dignitaries in Tripoli assured in a statement that the Alawi sect was a key part of Tripoli’s social fabric and was not linked to the position of the party speaking in tis name or on behalf of it, stressing that it was prohibited to attack the citizens’ property and interests, regardless of the sect to which they belonged, especially those who have nothing to do with what is happening.

In the meantime, the national dialogue issue was present during the talks held between President of the Republic Michel Suleiman and Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, in addition to the decision which called on the Kuwaiti nationals not to travel to Lebanon. President Suleiman stressed the importance of sitting around a dialogue table and of putting forward all the concerns with openness and good intentions in order to protect Lebanon, uphold civil peace and distance the country from the repercussions and consequences of the developments unfolding around it