Dubai: The Syrian vice-president’s call for an “historic settlement” and the formation of a national unity government as the only way to end the 21-month violence there will not succeed — and shows that the regime of Bashar Al Assad is in “real danger”.
“This is a sign of their [regime] failure,” said Rasha Omran, a Syrian writer and poet from the opposition.
Bashar Al Assad’s regime “has reached a point where it is clear that things are completely out of their control,” she told Gulf News in an interview.
Syrian’s vice-president, Farouk Al Shar’a, had earlier said there can be no military solution and it seems that all officials in the regime have reached the same conclusion, she added.
“He [Shar’a] didn’t conduct the interview by himself without the knowledge of all the other leading figures, or without the knowledge of Bashar Al Assad. Everything was planned, I believe,” Rasha said.
In his interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar, Al Shar’a said: “The opposition with its different factions, civilian, armed, or ones with external ties, cannot claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, just as the current rule with its ideological army and its confrontation parties lead by the Ba’ath, cannot achieve change without new partners.”
Shar’a added there was no military solution before proposing a “historic settlement” which includes the formation of a national unity government.
However, such a compromise has already been ruled out in the past, noted Rabeha Allam, a researcher in Syrian affairs at the Cairo-based Al Ahram Strategic Studies Centre.
“Therefore the timing of his statements shows nothing except that [Bashar] Al Assad is in real danger,” she told Gulf News.
“The Syrian leadership’s latest compromise comes at a time when the Free Syrian army is achieving continuous gains on the ground, while the opposition has managed to unite in a solid form for the first time since the beginning of the revolution,” Allam added. Shar’a’s proposal is not expected to succeed, analysts and opposition figures said.
Yet, indirect secret talks between the opposition and the regime in Syria are not ruled out, especially on the eve of the regime collapse.
“It will not be a political agreement, but rather secret security arrangements to avoid an explosive situation when the regime collapses,” said Allam.
Talks are not ruled out by the opposition figures. But they can’t be held before the Syrian president steps down.
“Personally, I agree that the only solution is a political one. But surely after Bashar steps down,” said Rasha. Meanwhile, Syria’s allies, mainly Russia, is trying to save the Syrian regime, rather than Al Assad, analysts said.
Russia, Allam noted, doesn’t bet on Al Assad as a person, but on the components of his regime.
Russia does not want its only Arab ally to move to the Western side especially because there are shared economic and military interests between the two countries, Allam added.
