07 Feb 2012 By Tariq
Alhomayed Over forty years of al-Assad rule, whether we are
talking about the rule of the father or the son, we
have heard that Damascus is the capital of Arabism and
the capital of the resistance. We have heard that the
Damascus of al-Assad is the stronghold and garrison of
the resistance, and other such lies and slogans.
However on Tuesday, the picture was very different,
for Damascus was more like the southern suburbs of
Beirut, namely the suburbs of Hassan Nasrallah. On Tuesday, the al-Assad regime mobilized its
supporters – in a sad and pathetic scene – to meet the
Russian envoys, namely the Russian Foreign Minister
[Sergey Lavrov] and Russian Foreign Intelligence
Service Director [Mikhail Fradkov]. The two Russian
envoys received a hero's welcome or a welcome that is
more usually reserved for a head of state, not a
foreign minister and intelligence chief. The question
that immediately springs to mind is: what would have
happened if the Russian President or Prime Minister
had visited Damascus? Damascus welcomed the two
Russian envoys in the same way that the southern
suburbs of Beirut welcomed the Turkish Prime Minister
or the Emir of Qatar or the Iranian President,
following Israel's war on Lebanon. The al-Assad regime
wanted to thank the Russians utilizing its veto
[against the UN Security Council draft resolution
condemning the suppression and calling for an end to
violence in Syria], which served as life support for
the Bashar al-Assad regime which is politically
deceased. At the same time that al-Assad supporters filled
the streets of the Syrian capital welcoming the
Russian envoys in the manner of the southern suburbs,
it was also announced that Iraq had agreed to serve as
a conduit to facilitate the transfer of Syrian goods.
It appears that al-Maliki is intent upon reviving the
spirit of Saddam Hussein, but with a Shiite flavour.
Therefore Baghdad also agreed to provide political
life support to the al-Assad regime, which is
politically deceased. This is contrary to the decision
taken by the Gulf States to expel the al-Assad regime
ambassadors from their territories. This is a decision
that reflects the Gulf State's siding with and
supporting the unarmed Syrians against the tyrant of
Damascus; whilst Baghdad has chosen to stand with al-Assad.
When we say that Damascus is like the southern
suburbs today, this was after Syria was previously
providing life support to the suburbs, however it is
Baghdad which is now providing al-Assad with this same
life support. Therefore Nasrallah's suburbs have
become more like a cave or den [in the absence of the
Syrian life-support]. We therefore now see Hassan
Nasrallah – on the same day – coming out to defend
Hezbollah and himself, saying they do not traffic in
drugs because Iran's support of Hezbollah means they
do not need money from anywhere else! This excuse is
worse than any sin, for anybody who wants to be an
Arab, and live in our region, cannot boast about
Iranian, or Russian, support. Therefore, one can only say: my God how things can
change! For everybody is now in their natural scope,
whether we are talking about al-Assad being provided
political life support by Baghdad today, or Hassan
Nasrallah saying that the source of his livelihood is
Iran, not drugs, in the knowledge that Iran is in the
midst of its worst ever political and economic crisis!
All of this informs us that our region today is in an
extremely volatile phase, accompanied by hurricanes
and storms. What is certain is that our region will be
better off without these extremist models, which are
dependent upon political life support from Iran or
Syria. Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London. Comments 💬 التعليقات |