In March 2011, the Syrian people rebelled against the Assad mafia family which oppressed them, humiliated them, filled its jails with their free young men and looted their country over 40 years.
The international community, led by the weakest US administration since World War II, has let down the Syrian people, leaving them prey to the weapons of this mafia which targeted the young men who demonstrated peacefully.
After more than 6,000 peaceful demonstrators were killed in the first months of the uprising, some officers and soldiers defected from the army of the tyrant, refusing to kill their fellow citizens, forming groups to protect civilians. They called these groups the “Free Army".
The Muslim Brotherhood exploited these defections, attempting to ride the revolution which it originally had no relation to by controlling its financial support sources, and taking advantage of regional backers.
The Brotherhood, with help from their supporters, formed the Syrian National Council in cooperation with a number of nationalists and leftists, who dominate its financial sources and decisions.
The mafia family exploited Islamist tendencies and the style of this opposition by providing financial support aimed at strengthening the political Islam which supports the Brotherhood. So it released pro-Al-Qaeda fighters and the colleagues of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from its jails.
The support of the Muslim Brotherhood and funding from a number of Gulf fundamentalists – in addition to the experience of those fighters – met to create a jihadist current that replaced the flag of the revolution (under which thousands of young people have died), raising its own black flags.
The mafia family ignored these currents, fighting relentlessly against the national dissidents to weaken them for the benefit of the jihadists in order to stigmatize the revolution with terrorism.
The US administration continued to ignore the Syrian problem, leaving it to competing regional powers, increasing the fragmentation of the national political and military opposition forces. These forces lost the confidence of the majority of Syrians, while the corruption and conflicting powers forced the Free Army to leave most of the liberated areas for the jihadist forces.
Syria turned – in large thanks to these jihadists – into an arena for settling regional accounts. Iran used Hezbollah, Iraqi and Afghan militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to control the regime-held areas.
What is needed now is a semi-miracle to:
1- End the corruption and fragmentation of the national democratic opposition to restore the confidence of the Syrian people through distancing itself from the domination of the Brotherhood, and to restore its independent Syrian decision making. The opposition must also develop a rescue plan to preserve the unity of Syria as a homeland for all Syrians, and to preserve the unity of Syrian society, away from sectarian affiliations. A plan to convince the Syrians that their choices are not confined to either accepting Assad's torture cells, or the knives and swords of ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
2- Convince the American administration, Europe, Russia and the international community that a political solution imposed with international guarantees is a necessary prelude to defeat the terrorism of ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
3- Convince Arab states (mainly Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan) that Syria should not be left to non-Arab regional powers, as each of these powers has its national interests that do not necessarily correspond with the Arab national interests.
The delay in the development of these ideas and the work on their application should be considered a crime against every Syrian.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
