Conflict in Syria turning into a great regional war
Since the popular uprising against the regime started two years ago in Syria, the country has turned into a big blood swamp. Many parties are fighting the battle in Syria. There are the Iranians, the Iraqis, the Russians, Hezbollah, Jabhat Al-Nusrah, Ahrar, Al-Qaeda, the PKK, the Popular Front, Ahmed Jibreel, the Free Syrian Army, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan and soon Britain and France will also enter the field.
It is one great regional war that started two years ago after the arrests of children for painting anti-regime graffiti on the walls of a school.
The government’s humiliating and violent reactions to their worries, and the people’s refusal to be cowed by security forces emboldened and helped spread the Syrian opposition.
Since the uprising started, one hundred thousands of Syrians have been killed, millions have crossed the borders and millions of people have been left homeless inside the country. Residents of cities have fled to rural areas to escape the violence and inhabitants of rural areas have run to caves and farms for safety.
In face of the tragedy and the grievances that accompanied the uprising, no one wants to go back to what was before two years ago. The majority of Syrians agree that Bashar’s regime should fall no matter what the price is. Even the Russians realize now that the regime is definitely going to collapse. The armed opposition has reached Bashar’s fortress.
The Russians now are not keen to keep Bashar in power but they are rather working hard to find a political solution that protects their interests and secures a favorable position for them and their allies in the new political setup, which seems impossible now.
As the fighting rages on in Syria, Hezbollah is turning out to be one of the main players on the ground. Fifty thousands of Hezbollah guerrillas are battling to suppress the uprising. Hezbollah never mobilized this much force to fight Israel in 30 years. Hezbollah threatens to take the conflict to Lebanon too while north and south Iraq are threatening to break away because of Nuri Al-Maliki’s involvement in Syria alongside Bashar.
So Iranians didn’t exaggerate when they compared the fall of Bashar with fall of Tehran. There is more than one war being fought on the Syrian soil.
As the revolution turned into a civil war, it is about to become an international conflict after France and Britain announced to arm the opposition even if the EU refused to remove the ban on arming both sides. What can we do other than the humanitarian aid that we provide to the refugees? No one now questions the fighters’ ability to oust the regime. The armed opposition is moving forward slowly but steadily toward achieving its goal. What matters now, in my opinion, is to gather all the Syrians under one political umbrella that allows them to choose their next regime. The Arab role in this is to unite the opposition to accept a regime that includes everyone, civilians and military.
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