The current scenario in the Middle East points to more bloodshed in the region during this ongoing summer. The armed conflict has dismantled the region, destroyed its capabilities and infused animosity between the people, leaving the door wide open for external intervention.
The bloody conflict has entered its fourth year, leaving behind massive destruction and untold miseries, besides an unprecedented refugee crisis.
Although the Assad regime is losing ground, it looks that it is determined to destroy the country until the last stone. All this bloodshed is taking place in defense of a repressive and sectarian regime that has ruled Syria with an iron hand for more than 40 years.
Facts on the ground indicate that this system is exhausting all means of resistance to defeat his opponents. News reports said that the Assad regime has approached Tehran seeking more money and fighters to counter the rebellion against the Alawite minority regime. But the reports said that Iran, which is preoccupied with its internal problems, almost empty treasury and the anticipated agreement with the US over its nuclear program, has turned down the request. This leaves the Assad regime in the cold.
So, what can this regime do? The Assad’s regime has employed all military arsenal to kill the Syrian people with poison gas, explosive barrels. And it has hired the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters who are being killed every day while allegedly protecting the shrines in Damascus and preventing the fall of the regime, as Hassan Nasrallah has vowed. Facing its destiny alone, with its troops fleeing the battlefield in many parts of the country, the regime has resorted to a malicious campaign of promoting sectarian fighting between the liberation fighters and the Druze community, which is known for its history of national resistance to French colonialism.
What this insane regime doesn’t understand is that the minority cannot continue to rule the majority and that the will of the people will prevail in the end. Insane, because if this regime truly believes that it is facing a conspiracy to destroy its “steadfastness” in confronting Israel, which occupies Palestine and the Golan Heights, it could have met the demands of the people who are longing for freedom and equality, instead of suppressing them by force.
In fact, this regime doesn’t read history; otherwise it would have learned a lesson from the experiences of totalitarian regimes in other parts of the world that collapsed. However, as this regime is fighting for survival, nobody knows what its last trick would be. Recently, news reports said that Moscow was prepared to give refuge to Bashar Assad. If this happened, there is no immediate end to the conflict because there are several armed organizations with different ideologies. These organizations are now busy fighting the regime, and they do not seem to foresee the future after the fall of the regime. Therefore, there is no guarantee that they will not start fighting among themselves. What we fear most is that these organizations will stick to their weapons and refuse to resort to a democratic government and give up their weapons. If this happens, the already devastated country will sink into an unknown fate.
History tells that there were over 36 armed organizations in Vietnam during the war against the Americans. But these factions, despite their ideological differences, had agreed on one thing: Liberty and national unity. So, they gave up their mundane gains and interests and abandoned their weapons in national interest and joined hands in rebuilding their country.
What we hope for is that the leaders of these organizations would read the global and regional scene very well, especially what is happening in Iraq, and act accordingly.
As we said, at the beginning of this article, all indicators suggest that this summer in Syria will be hotter than in previous years. The wise are those who will protect themselves and what has remained of their country from the forthcoming arson.
