The regime options : pluraliste Constitution and hunting to the extremists

Arab affairs

The Gulf escalation fever

When the Syrian state signed the cooperation protocol with the Arab League, it set a course for its acceptance of a transitional plan that would ensure a comprehensive solution to the crisis through specific and practical steps stipulated by the protocol. What brings this issue back on the table is the fierce campaign being led by the Gulf Cooperation Council states that are controlling the League and moving between New York, Cairo, Tunis and Paris to form a global alliance that would provide coverage for possible foreign interferences to undermine the Syrian strength. The League started by turning against the protocol, especially after the Arab observers’ mission presented its report which raised Qatar’s and Saudi Arabia’s anger for having presented the real picture of the ongoing events in Syria, thus toppling the false one for the formation of which Doha and Riyadh spent billions of dollars to say that the confrontations in Syria were between the state and the armed forces on one hand and peaceful protesters on the other.

The American plan which was drawn up by David Petraeus to justify the interference in Syria is based on claims related to the preparation of massacres against unarmed civilians, while the Saudi and Qatari governments provided funds and weapons to the militias of the Istanbul Council and ensured the introduction of arms shipments and Syrian and Gulf terrorist groups across the Syrian border in cooperation with Turkey, the Future Movement and its aides in Lebanon, and the Jordanian intelligence apparatuses. Had these sides wished well for Syria and were seriously attempting to help reach a peaceful political solution to the crisis, they would have stopped all forms of financial and military support to the Istanbul Council and discontinued their media campaigns which instigated violence in Syria and turned all the Gulf media outlets into war tools ever since the signing of the protocol.

And speaking of the protocol, the report of the observers’ mission should have been followed with balanced steps calling for the ending of violence through field arrangements forcing the armed groups to stop their operations on the ground and relinquish their weapons. Consequently, the necessary Arab sponsorship and moral support should have been offered to re-impose the control of the Syrian state over the positions and the strongholds used by the armed groups to tamper with the country’s security, while calling on the Syrian state to ensure the oppositionists’ right to stage peaceful demonstrations in preparation for the launching of national dialogue between the political authority and the opposition. But the turn against the initiative and the request made to see international military intervention in Syria emerged directly after the observers’ report which seriously undermined the conspiracy.

The Gulf rulers know that the victory of Syria and its leader and the renewal of its national state will set the foundations for a new Arab stage and herald equations and balances which will topple many heads in the region and reshape the Arab League on new foundations. Therefore, they are leading their escalation until the end while there is no way back except through their total defeat in the face of the upcoming Syrian rise.

New analysis

The new constitution and the global war

Ever since of the eruption of the events in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad adopted a series of reformatory steps which recently reached their peak with the drafting of a new constitution, i.e. a step that Al-Assad would have preferred to see at the end of national dialogue and in partnership with the opposition sides calling for reform. And just like it is always the case, this reformatory development was met with condemnation and with a banner raised by the Western governments, the Gulf governments and Turkey which are all implicated in the war on Syria, saying: it is too late, it is not enough, it is only in form and is non-essential. Let us go beyond the surreal scene resulting from the fact that the preaching for reform and democracy in our region was assigned by the Americans to this region’s most backward governments represented by the autocratic and tyrannical GCC states that know no constitution or constitutional institutions.

Firstly, since the announcement of the referendum over the constitution which will be held on February 26, the statements and positions issued by the Western states and opposition Syria sides have been multiplying and denying the reality of what the constitution presented to the Syrian people. The new constitution establishes the foundation of political plurality and ends the stage in which the Baath party and its allies in the progressive front enjoyed in terms of a leading role in the state. Moreover, it puts an end to the stipulations of article 8 which link the formation of the People’s Assembly and the government to the continuation of the status of the party and the front as the main decision makers.

Secondly, the truth which was confirmed by the events is that the colonial Western alliance and the backward autocratic governments in the Gulf states do not want reforms in Syria and do not want the peaceful transition they are talking about day and night, while organizing the flow of arms and funds and the entry of the terrorist gangs to the Syrian domestic arena to generate chaos and activate the foreign intervention plan. This alliance prevented its tools in the opposition, especially the ones abroad, from cooperating with the calls for dialogue and exercised fierce intimidation against the oppositionists on the domestic arena to force them to do the same. What is noticeable at this level is the political schizophrenia seen in the adoption of decisions at the Arab League and the United Nations calling for dialogue, while exercising on the other hand all possible efforts via Western, Gulf and Turkish intelligence apparatuses to prevent the Syrian opposition from establishing any kind of political partnership with the national state.

Thirdly, the decision adopted by President Al-Assad to draw up a new constitution and hold legislative elections in the next few months, reflects his determination to introduce reforms based on Syrian national needs and his effort to place the country on the path toward a pluralistic political regime, in parallel to the upcoming Baath party conference that will witness an intellectual and cultural renewal that is much needed by the party to engage in democratic competition with the other political powers in society. The Syrian state will be reshaped based on the new constitution and the ballot boxes, and this is exactly what is bothering those launching the campaigns against the constitution and downplaying the importance of the major reformatory steps adopted by the Syrian president.

Fourthly, all those who can read between the lines know that the West and its aides are seeking the destruction of the Syrian strength and the elimination of the central Syrian role in the conflict over the identity and future of the region, in parallel to the Zionist movement’s advancement to complete the Judaization of Jerusalem and proclaim the racist Jewish state. This is the reality of what is happening in Syria and the Western and Gulf frenzy which resulted in the failure of the plan to generate civil war in Syria. Syria is resisting the global war that is targeting it on the economic, political, media diplomatic and security levels. This war is one of dismantlement and destruction and not one aiming at exerting pressures to ensure modernization, progress or national partnership.

News analysi.

The end of the League

The Arab League rode the horse of internationalization at the United Nations’ General Assembly after the Security Council, thus using its last bullet. Consequently, the war on Syria will move to the Tunis conference which will be held in a week under the headline of Syria’s friends. The Arab League’s role is over and in one week, it will turn into an extra in the choir that is hostile to Syria, with the only task of speaking in Arabic when the director orders it to do so and unblock its oil funds based on the requirements of the battle. This means:

• They will lengthy tackle the fact that more than 100 states voted with the League against Syria while forgetting that more than 150 states previously voted many times in favor of Palestine upon a Syrian request and that they never dared to transfer the file to the Security Council.

• The League’s Arabs will prove they are mere votes as usual, as well as a bag filled with money in which the West can dig whenever it wants.

• Syria will prove it is able to stand fast because its real opponent is the West that is supporting Israel, that has lost its muscles and that is unable to wage war even if the oil-rich Arabs were to fund it.

The Arab file

Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received from the head of the national committee assigned to draw up a constitution for the Syrian Arab Republic a copy of the draft constitution prepared by the committee. After studying it, President Al-Assad issued a decree to hold a referendum over this constitution on 26/2/12. Assad said: “Once the constitution is ratified, Syria would have come a long way by setting the legal and constitutional structure based on reforms, in order to lead the country towards a new phase of cooperation between all the components of the people to achieve our common aspirations and develop our country in a way drawing a brighter future for the upcoming generations.”

In parallel, the Arab League council issued a decision in regard to Syria on the ministerial level. Lebanon registered its reservations over the articles featured in it, while Algeria’s delegation registered its reservations over articles 5 and 6 which called on the Security Council to issue a resolution to form an Arab and international peacekeeping force to supervise the implementation of the ceasefire. In this context, the League’s council welcomed Tunisia’s invitation to host the conference for Syria’s friends, which was called for by France, Britain, the United States and turkey. Syria’s Ambassador to Cairo and its permanent envoy to the League Youssef Ahmad confirmed Syria’s utter rejection of the League’s decision, recalling that since the beginning, Syria stressed it was not concerned by any decision issued by the League in its absence.

Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari accused UN member states of funding and dispatching fighters from Al-Qaeda organization to carry out terrorist operations in Syria. He also accused the Arab League of encouraging terrorism in his country through its decision to support the opposition financially and politically. During the session held by the General Assembly to look into the report of the Human Rights Council on Syria, Al-Jaafari wondered how the United Nations was fighting the terrorism of Al-Qaeda organization, at a time when some of its member states were funding, sponsoring and dispatching Al-Qaeda fighters to carry out terrorist operations in Syria. He assured that the draft resolution presented to the UN General Assembly was bias, had nothing with what was happening on the ground, completely neglected to hold the armed terrorist groups responsible for the terrorist attacks and disregarded the serious reforms being introduced in Syria.

Palestine

The bulldozers of the Israeli occupation removed the Wadi Helwa court in the town of Selwan south of the Al-Aqsa mosque, at a time when the settlement authorities in occupied Jerusalem approved the construction of an archeological park in the middle of the Selwan neighborhood in the city. On the other hand, death is threatening more than 80% of the ill in the Gaza Strip which is drowning in darkness, after the only power plant in the area stopped working. Officials thus warned against a health disaster which will affect all the patients in the various hospitals. In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of standing behind the two attacks which targeted Israel’s embassies in India and Georgia.

Bahrain

On the eve of the first anniversary of the launching of the protests in the Kingdom, thousands of Bahrainis tried to reach the former Pearl Square in the capital Manama. However, the security forces deterred them and assured that the march exited its peacefulness. The security forces thus threw tear gas bombs and sound bombs against the protesters, causing the eruption of clashes between the two sides. In this context, the Bahraini security forces carried out wide scale campaigns of arrests and imposed a heavy security presence in the areas witnessing tensions.

Iran

Iran denied the Israeli accusations saying it was behind the attacks targeting the employees of the Israeli embassies in Georgia and India, while Iranian President Mahmud Ahamdinejad announced on Wednesday that his country activated 3000 new centrifuges in the context of its uranium enrichment activities. For its part, the European commission assured that if Iran were to discontinue its exports to the European Union, this would not make any difference considering that the European clients had already started substituting their suppliers. This came at a time when Said Jalili, the chairman of the higher council for national security, said in a letter he dispatched to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that Teheran was willing to continue the talks with the 5+1 group.

Israeli file

The speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah occupied the main headlines of the Israeli papers, amid concerns vis-à-vis the threat made by the Sayyed to retaliate for the assassination of Commander Imad Mughniyeh through the targeting of senior Israeli officials.

This week, the papers also followed Israel’s accusations of Iran of being behind the Thailand and Tbilisi explosions, saying that the two operations were much below the capabilities of Hezbollah which the security leaders in Israel deem to be stronger than the armies of 90 states around the world. Yediot Aharonot said in this context that these operations were similar to underground and mafia operations and not to Hezbollah’s resounding ones.

For its part, the Israeli television said that Hezbollah would not deny such small explosions and that its strength and status did not go in line with such marginal operations. The television added that had Hezbollah wanted to retaliate, its response would be much greater than it is imagined by the Israelis, especially since the talk is about avenging a great commander such as Imad Mughniyeh.

On the other hand, the papers spoke about the purpose of the visit carried out by Mossad Chief Tamir Pardo to Washington lately, saying it aimed at feeling the pulse of Obama’s administration towards the repercussions of any possible Israeli attack against the Iranian nuclear facilities despite the opposition of the United States. Yediot Aharonot tackled the army document which revealed that the army command intended to annul the “Turning Point” emergency drill which trains its forces on how to deal with an emergency situation. On the other hand, Haaretz addressed the dispute within the government in regard to the appropriate Israeli response to the events in Syria.

Lebanese affairs

The Lebanese platform and the war on Syria

The plan to turn Lebanon into a platform to target Syria is entering a new political and field stage under the supervision of Jeffrey Feltman. In the meantime, it is clear that the statements of Alain Juppe and Ahmet Davutoglu about the so-called humanitarian passageways partly fall in the context of the project to form forces deployed in the North and constituting the tip of the spear of foreign military intervention in Syria.

Firstly, when former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri spoke a few months ago about the introduction of Turkish troops to Lebanon to be positioned on the border with Syria, he was summoning one of the clauses of this plan after the Future Movement and its aides transformed Tripoli and Akkar into centers for the mobilization of weapons and armed men to be dispatched to Syria and following the establishment of training camps for the Istanbul Council gang on Lebanese soil. In the meantime, the information being circulated by the Syrian opposition movements abroad confirms the existence of Lebanese armed men and multinational terrorist groups in Homs introduced via Lebanon, while Western journalistic reports spoke more than once about the presence of French and American officers supervising the organization and training of these terrorist groups before their dispatch to Homs. Clearly, the military and security escalation carried out by the militias affiliated with the Istanbul Council and the Al-Qaeda groups that came in through Lebanon, falls in the context of the promotion of the so-called safe passageways across the Lebanese border.

Secondly, this fictive project which Al-Hariri is dreaming about includes the rehabilitation of the Al-Quleiyat airport to introduce foreign troops and set the foundations for the bombardment of Syria by air starting from Lebanon. As to the political action undertaken by the March 14 forces and Walid Jumblatt under the Syrian headline, it aims at paving the way before Lebanon’s transformation into a platform for a war against Syria, one for which the Gulf governments want to lease troops and warplanes from Turkey and the NATO member states. Turkey is reluctant to adopt any step on its border to interfere in Syria, as it is concerned about clashing with the capabilities of the Syrian army and the repercussion which such an adventure could generate. Therefore, it was agreed in the international conspiracy hallways to use Lebanon to implement what is wanted for Syria, starting with the plan to spread anarchy in the North and render the region under the control of the Future Movement and Lebanese Forces militias. In parallel to this demonic plan and the alliance of the delusional on the internal and external arenas, the Lebanese state is still announcing its commitment to the self-distancing policy without adopting any serious step to deter the Lebanese forces involved in Syrian domestic affairs. Jumblatt, Al-Hariri and Geagea all made commitments and pledges before the West, but especially before the United States, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to help ensure this plan’s success and set up the Lebanese internal situation to serve this scheme. This is why they are now showing sympathy towards the suffering of the Syrians, knowing that their racist speeches against the Syrian people and their killing of hundreds of Syrian workers a few years ago have not yet been erased from the archives of the various media outlets.

Thirdly, whoever wants Lebanon’s stability and interests should support the assignment of the Lebanese army to cleanse the North and the Bekaa from the armed gangs affiliated with the Istanbul Council, and prevent any form of involvements in the Syrian events. The governmental reality which is shaken and confused due to disputes whose settlement is currently underway, is obstructing the emergence of a Lebanese national will meeting the stability needs during the current stage. The minimum level of Lebanese responsibility requires the adoption of urgent measures to deter the organizers of the political and media campaigns that are instigating against and showing hostility towards the Syrian state, and deploy the Lebanese army on the border with Syria to deter all the smuggling, violations and infiltration attempts organized by the March 14 forces upon orders from the French and American intelligence apparatuses to undermine Syrian security.

Lebanese file

Former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said from Paris that the Syrian regime was over and was bound to fall, calling for the offering of humanitarian and logistic support to the Syrians. He wondered: “Today, Lebanon is placing itself in the eye of the storm. When the Syrian regime collapses, what will be the Syrian people’s reaction towards Lebanon’s decision to distance itself?” On the seventh anniversary of the assassination of martyred Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, the March 14 forces focused their speech on attacking the Syrian regime, Hezbollah’s weapons and the government. Head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea said in this context: “I see an old era collapsing and a great Arab spring that is underway.” He then addressed Hezbollah by saying: “Enough black shirts.”

During the commemoration of martyred leaders Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi, Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Hajj Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated the party’s position towards the local, regional and international file. He responded to the speakers in Biel while mentioning them by name, reiterating his insistence on dialogue without prior conditions and wishing a quick recovery to Sheikh Saad al-Hariri, a happy beginning as the spokesman for the Istanbul Council to Fares Souaid and recalling Samir Geagea’s bloody accomplishments during the Lebanese war.