Syria has witnessed a new massacre by Assad regime and this is neither the first massacre of its kind, nor unfortunately will it be the last. This is a massacre that has claimed the lives of Syrian children and their mothers, slaughtered in a brutal manner, in the midst of shameful international silence, despite everything that has been said about Annan’s mission, not to mention the presence of international observers.
There are several motives behind the massacres being carried out by the regime of Assad, the tyrant. It is noteworthy that the Assad regime is exploiting every event in our region to send a bloody message to the suffering Syrian people. Whilst the entire region is preoccupied with the course of the Egyptian elections, and its implications and consequences, the regime of the tyrant carried out the Houla massacre in order to intimidate the Syrian people, and then claimed that “terrorists” had carried out this massacre and that it is the regime that will protect the people! At the same time as this, the pro-Assad media machinery promotes this view, exploiting the circumstances in some Arab Spring states, in order to strengthen the tyrant’s message. The Houla massacre is the greatest and most recent evidence of this fact, for even the manner in which this massacre was carried out was along the lines of an Al-Qaeda operation, namely wholesale slaughter. This is something I previously termed Assad’s Qaeda, which is based on utilizing terrorism and deception in order to suppress and intimidate the Syrian people, in addition to sending a message to the international community that Al-Qaeda is running riot in Syria.
The Assad regime’s lies have been exposed, except in the eyes of those who are accomplices of this regime in the international community and who continue to remain silent. This is a silence of actions, not words, for statements do not benefit the unarmed Syrian people, and will not stop the tyrant’s regime from killing and carrying out one massacre after another. Assad has broken every taboo with regard to his actions toward the Syrian people, transgressing every red-line, carrying out brutal crimes against humanity. He has done everything, whilst the international community has done nothing concrete to stop this except issue statements. As for the economic sanctions, the majority of the international community is well aware that Iraq, Lebanon and Russia are not respecting this, and that the Assad regime continues to arm itself and manage its affairs via these afore-mentioned countries. Moreover, the death toll in Syria is escalating, whilst the crimes of the Assad regime are ongoing, and it continues to utilize deceptions that have been exposed.
The problem, as has been stated time and time again, is that the crimes being carried out by the Assad regime will push Syria as a whole toward division, violence and complete destruction, which in turn will have impact on the entire region. The images of the massacres and crimes being committed by the Assad regime in Syria will serve to fuel regional violence, fanning the flames of extremism and sectarianism in an unprecedented manner. Therefore what Assad is doing makes him the worst criminal in the history of the region, and the international silence toward his crimes also surpasses any previous silence towards a dictator in our region.
Therefore, what Syria needs today is not more statements or stalling or prolonging Annan’s suspect mission, rather what the Syrian people need is foreign intervention to forcibly stop Assad’s killing machine which continues to kill young children and their mothers, stabbing them to death with knives in the most brutal manner. In this case, what Assad has done over the past 18 months represents a genuine crime against the unarmed Syrian people, whilst the international community continues to grant him more time and opportunity. There must be real foreign intervention in Syria today to stop Assad’s massacres; otherwise we will all pay a steep price!
The author is editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat.
Write to him at [email protected]
