Syria’s brutal dictator will stay without Western intervention

By Mufid Abdulla:

Not a single day passes without bloodshed and tragedy in Syria. Syria is bleeding profusely and its people are dying on an hourly basis. The nature of the dictator and the brutality of the system have been so equipped as to resist any opposition for a long time. The peaceful demonstrations of the Syrian people have been met with bullets. The people of Syria have had no choice other than to act in self-defense, as we have seen in Hama where the armed resistance has continued for some time.

Syrian people are the most beautiful people in the Middle East, with a rich history. Now they are faced, in addition to their brutal dictator, with Russia – the nation which called itself the father of all workers – along with China, which calls itself the mother of the entire peasant world. These two big powers have helped this brutal regime to remain and gain in power. The presence of a Russian military base in Syria has enabled the brutal dictator to become more protected.

But who is benefiting from the bloodshed in Syria and who are those that want the dictator to stay in power? It doesn’t surprise me at all that the dictator is still in power despite the fierce struggles of the people. The opposition is weak and fragmented without any coherent policy to unite all.

Looking back to the Arab Spring over the last fifteen months, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya had, in one way or another, Western interventions to deter those dictatorships from further bloodshed. I believe that Syria is another Bosnia in the making unless Western powers intervene with massive military fire power. Observers have concluded that the Syrian dictator is even trickier than the Libyan.

We don’t have to look back far for a similar example. When Kuwait was liberated from the Saddam dictatorship in 1991 and America then changed their plan and abandoned the rebels of southern Iraq to a grisly fate, this resulted in Saddam remaining in power due to the US fear of Iran. Saddam stayed in power until the American intervention in 2003 to topple him.

The Shah of Iran in 1979 did not want to see more blood on the streets and he left Iran and went to Egypt, handing power to Shapoor Baktyar, the Prime Minister at that time. That helped the revolution to take power, but unfortunately the Iranian revolution was hijacked by the clergy.

The Syrian people need help. That assistance can only be possible with military firepower from NATO and the Western countries to destroy the Assad family’s killing machine. According to the UN, the loss of lives to date is more than fifteen thousand people. Western powers should be using their influence to organize big conferences for the Syrian opposition, in order to unite it under one roof and enable the establishment of a government-in-exile – with the inclusion of the Kurds who have been sidelined up to now. The Syrian Arab opposition needs to embrace a partnership with the Kurdish people and fully acknowledge the rights of Kurds in a new Syria.