Immediately after the Islamic State declared its assault on northern Iraq, America changed its publicly neutral policies and reacted in a way can be considered a direct military and political interference in the Iraqi crisis.
America intervened and their target, IS, was exposed to daily American air raids. The operation stopped the Islamic State's attack on Erbil and on the regions occupied by minorities in Ninawa and Sinjar. It also expelled IS from strategic and sensitive locations, including the Mosul dam. The plan is to reduce the power of IS, leaving the door open to possible escalation that may develop into further military interference on a larger scale.
THhere is new information that says IS is now working to compensate for its losses in Iraq by victories in Syria, where Washington is still hesitant to intervene, or rather, where Washington prefers to keep its intentions secret. However America has expressed its concerns that IS may move its power base to Syria, making it the most violent and extremist base of power in the region.
Whatever the American intentions towards Syria were, it is necessary that the Coalition in particular, and the opposition in general, should do whatever is needed to encourage the world to move its war against IS to Syria.
This cannot be done merely through press conferences demandingmilitary intervention, but requires immediate and practical military and political steps.
The first step could be tp put up a common national work program applied on all the effective opposition forces, formed through the cooperation and coordination between all the opposition parties. The direct goals for such a program must be unifying the opposition and the armed resistance, represented mainly in the Free Syrian Army, reviving the civil and peaceful movement and unifying the activities of the opposition both inside and outside Syria.
It may seem like a long way to go, but it is absolutely the right path right, and every long road starts with one step. We must do whatever is necessary to walk this road with the minimum mistakes.
This practical demand requires the leadership of the Coalition and its masses to communicate with all the opposition parties and invite them to an immediate national dialogue to put forward a draft that contains the features of the national work program.
Everyone should participate in discussing and adopting this program because its national results will encourage the world to get involved in the Syrian tragedy, according to Syrian conditions. We should make the world see the problem from our perspective, and this can only be achieved when we are united, and if we establish pure national Syrian internal relations to serve our people and their revolution. We must put an end to the increasing centralization which puts the regime and the extremist groups at the core of the conflict, because this prevents the international forces from involvement in a conflict with each. The world will not fight on behalf of an opposition that doesn’t deserve it, or an opposition that lacks the necessary ideas and plans to make it more effective. If the opposition cannot organize its efforts, how can the world provide it with the support needed to win in the conflict?
It is unlikely that Washington will accept the transition of IS power in Syria, unless there is an American intention to inflame a general Sunni-Shiite war. In this case, why does America let IS get out of Iraq, as long as this process will limit its ability to fight in such a war? Let us forget about this unlikely hypothesis now, and remember that America was accused of attacking IS because it fears IS expansion towards Kurdistan and its oil wells, and that it wants to oblige IS to stay in western Iraq, close to the east and northern east of Syria, where the IS in the Levant remain.
It is not certain that America will repeat what it did in Iraq against IS, but for us, we shouldn’t stay in this weak and divided state, because this means that we have no influence over our most dangerous and critical issues and we will be unable to benefit from any situation. Our only success will be in making others ignore us because we will not be seen as trustworthy for aa long as we are not trustworthy among ourselves, because we don’t know what we want and how to reach it.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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