The nightmare of al-Assad

By Hussein Shobokshi / www.asharq-e.com

The Arabs will wake up one day and realize the extent of the deceit they have been exposed to with the al-Assad regime. The Arabs will wake up and realize the size of the plots that have been carried out by this regime in its country and in the region. The Arabs will wake up one day and know exactly what role was performed by the Syrian regime in the region, for whose benefit and what the results were. The extent of vengeance and hatred at the heart of this regime towards its people is truly amazing, indiscriminately committing acts of brutality, murder and mass punishment against towns, villages and citizens, using all weapons and means for its massacres.

The al-Assad regime was “created” for certain reasons and goals and continues to exist for the very same reasons and goals: Destroy Syria economically, break the morale of the proud Syrian people, make fear, anxiety, suspicion and doubt the basic features of life there, and preoccupy the people by filling them with meaningless slogans about socialist revolutions and resistance. As it turned out, the regime was never serious about achieving any of these slogans practically on the ground. All the crimes and assassinations against politicians in Lebanon and members of the Palestinian leadership were committed to maintain a degree of fear against the unknown, but it soon became very clear who was behind them and who implemented them. The Syrian regime enlisted economic, political, intellectual, military and security aides for the sole purpose of suppressing the Syrian people to the utmost degree, and to make them live in an atmosphere of panic and terror that they could not wake up from. If one could not cope, they would be forced to leave the country or pay the price with prison or their life.

The al-Assad regime never offered a respectable attempt to prove it was sincere about liberating territories occupied by Israel. The Golan Heights remained undisputedly secure, which prompted Israel to formally annex them, safe in the knowledge that this decision would not be met with any formal military resistance, whether from the army or from the public, because the al-Assad regime would prevent this in various ways, means and methods.

The survival of the al-Assad regime in power in Syria is not only a slight against politics and a violation of human rights; it is a sin in every sense of ethical and religious teaching. Given the magnitude of the regime’s crimes and its evil we must eliminate it, rather than engage in dialogue. This would only justify it and provide excuses and support, and complicity in the Syrian case takes on a variety of forms. Through the criminal Syrian regime confronting its people with missiles, tanks and planes, and depriving them of bread and water thus leaving them homeless and hungry, the issue has transformed from a political one into an issue of asylum and refugees.

It has also become clear that Syria’s policy of fear mongering is not a weapon for internal use only. We see it in Turkey with al-Assad’s supporters having a hand in Kurdish bombings inside the country, and we can also see tensions appearing among the Turkish Alawite bloc. These two groups [the Kurds and the Alawites] account for twenty million people in the democratic state of Turkey, and any tension between them and the ruling bloc will affect the overall stability of the country. Syrian fear mongering has also reached Jordan through some Palestinian refugee camps there, riddled with al-Assad’s intelligence services. The Jordanian street has been stirred up into a frenzy against its own government, which poses a serious source of concern and strain for the authorities there. This represents a veiled threat from Syria, warning that there will be more tension if Jordan continues to support the Syrian revolution, although the support itself is somewhat timid and limited.

The Arabs will wake up one day and realize the extent of the deceit and crimes that the al-Assad regime has carried out against its own people and its own country, and that the extent of the psychological damage sustained by the Syrian people throughout four decades far exceeds the material damage that has been done to buildings and facilities in cities and villages.

This nightmare will end, as will the fragmentation that has engulfed Syria for many dark decades. However, we must reach a new level of awareness in order to prevent the country being hijacked again under loose terms, false slogans and misleading goals.

The nightmare of the al-Assad reign is in its last throes…Yes this sentence has been uttered before, but a regime of such criminality takes more time to overcome than others!