Following a United Nations decree, the number of international observers deployed in Syria will rise to 300. A decree that obtained full consensus from all the Security Council's members. What this reflects is that Kofi Annan's plan had quite a few advantages. One of these is the effort to end the bloodshed, in a country whose ruling regime believes in no choice but the assassination of its opponents since it took power about 42 years ago. But the main advantage is that the world has finally discovered -including some certain Arab and non-Arab countries- the real approach of this Syrian regime. What should this discovery result in? First, it must admit that the Syrian regime is beyond reform, and there isn't any solution to the crisis but a transitional period, starting with President Bashar al-Assad's stepping down. This transitional period should pave the way for democracy and a normal political, economic life in a country that is threatened by a civil war. However, the most important thing is that this discovery should lead the international community to understand the Syrian regime is not capable of implementing Annan's plan, at least for one simple reason; the regime can't withdraw its forces and thugs from the Syrian cities, so there is no hope in the success of the plan of the former UN secretary-general, who is now a UN-Arab League envoy. Annan is well aware about how the Syrian regime deals with the UN decrees and with Syria's neighbours, but if he needs someone to refresh his memory, he can ask the current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for help. The Syrian regime has nothing to offer either to its people or to its neighbours, particularly Lebanon and Turkey. However it is Jordan that has suffered from this regime's conduct the most, whether in the reign of King Hussein or now under the rule of King Abdullah II. How many can remember the Syrian regime's rejection to demarcate borders between the two countries? Who remembers the Syrian troops' advance on Jordan's borders when the 1980 Arab League summit was held in Amman? The Turks have realised too late what the Lebanese and the Jordanians had realised since long ago. They realised that there is no hope in this regime as it is only searching for a cover to go on in repressing its own people. Annan should have known since the year 2000 or maybe even earlier, that this regime is only adopting the strategy of aggression. The year 2000 witnessed the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon according to UN decree 425 issued in 1978. The Israelis' late implementation was linked to the developments in Palestine, as Israel wanted to prevent Yasser Arafat from adopting a flexible attitude that could meet the United States' ambitions then. The UN Security Council unanimously agreed that Israel has committed to decree 425. However, the Syrian regime that aimed to keep the Lebanese front open had invented the so-called Shebaa Farms cause, which were occupied since 1967, and are considered Lebanese territory anyway, although it is subject to the UN decree number 242. The Syrian troops occupied this land in 1956 and lost it in 1967, but until now, Syria refuses to admit Shebaa is Lebanese land, so Lebanon can work to regain it through the United Nations. Annan knows this, as well as how the Syrian regime dealt with the United Nations and the Security Council during Annan's spell as a secretary-general. Nothing has changed in the Syrian regime's attitude. A few days earlier, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a very important report about the security council's decree number 1559 issued in 2004. The report stated the Syrian regime still ignores its related part of the decree untill now. It is true Syria pretended to commit to the decree by withdrawing its military troops from Lebanon, but this withdrawal was forced by the pressure of the Lebanese people, whose vast majority had risen up against the Syrian occupation after the assassination of prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in February 2005. The Syrian regime's trick didn't work with the current UN secretary-general, whose report has referred clearly to the arms influx from Syria to Lebanon, in addition to the Syrian regime's insistence to establish bases for Palestinian groups associated to Damascus in the Lebanese territories, and most of all, the Syrian rejection to demarcate Syria's borders with Lebanon. The Syrian regime doesn't care either for the Syrian cities' safety nor for Lebanon's sovereignty, both Ban and Annan know that. They also know that the Syrian regime's main goal about Annan's plan is to gain time, that is the reason why this plan can only be considered a preliminary move while the international community decides how to get rid of this regime. There is hope that not so much time will be wasted, as everyday that passes means more blood is shed on the hands of a regime that sees their only remaining hope for survival is to remove a city called Homs from existence.
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Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©