Syria cannot ignore the ground reality

The ludicrous speech by Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Mua’alem at the UN General Assembly showed how far Bashar Al Assad’s regime has drifted from reality. The minister insisted on describing the huge opposition movement as “terrorist” activity, defying the reality on the ground.

It is dangerous for the future of Syria that the government refuses to recognise that the opposition is a legitimate expression of popular opinion. Eventually the opposition and government may have to talk, in order to find a political settlement. But this will fail if the government is only interested in capturing the opposition delegates and either summarily executing them or flinging them into jail. The most important thing is to end the bloodshed.

Mua’alem told the Security Council that several “permanent members of the Security Council, who launched wars under the excuse of combating terrorism, now support terrorism in my country without any regard to United Nations resolutions”, and he continued by naming the US, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, accusing them of “blatant interference” in Syria’s affairs. He specifically attacked the US and France, along with several Arab states, for undermining peace efforts and supplying rebel groups with arms and money.

The Syrian government is fighting for its life and its gross brutality against the Syrian people will continue unabated. The government may think that it can survive and Mua’alem was talking as though his government will continue to run Syria for the foreseeable future. But he is wrong.

The fighting will continue because the opposition cannot give up. And their growing support in the country allows them to fight more vigorously every month. They are also attracting widespread international sympathy, even if active support is slim. In this context, it was important that a note of stern reality was brought to the UN proceedings when Mua’alem met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who criticised in the strongest terms “the continued killings, massive destruction, human rights abuses and aerial and artillery attacks committed by the government”.