The world should isolate Al Assad

Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria faces permanent isolation despite its military success this week when the army and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies seized control of the rebel stronghold of Yabrud on the Lebanese border, dealing the opposition a strategic blow in the Qalamoun region.

The depth of the isolation that Al Assad will force on Syria, if he insists on clinging onto power, is illustrated by the US closing the Syrian embassy in Washington and ordering the remaining Syrian diplomats to leave the country. US Secretary of State John Kerry said the decision was taken because “the illegitimacy of the Al Assad regime is so overwhelming,” quoting the shocking figure that more than 140,000 people have been killed in the three-year war and that Al Assad’s regime is still “indiscriminately attacking civilians”.

The lack of progress in finding peace is taking a dangerous toll on people’s lives. The Human Rights Council in Geneva has just released a staggering report accusing government forces of sharply increasing their use of indiscriminate weapons, such as barrel-bombs, against civilians. It also catalogues how jihadist rebels carried out mass executions, with a specific case on January 6 in Aleppo’s children’s hospital, which was used by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS) as its headquarters and interrogation centre. A few hours before it was overrun by the Syrian army, guards took large numbers of prisoners and killed them in an “execution field” nearby.

The danger is that Al Assad’s military success, and his sheer ability to survive during this brutal war, will encourage him to imagine that he can be part of Syria’s future. He is fostering the loyalty of his generals, their troops and some minority communities in Syria by seeking to show the regime forces as a bulwark against the savagery of the jihadists. He does not allow discussion of the savagery of his own forces. However, Al Assad’s desperate need to survive should not allow him to think that he can continue to hold power in Syria in the long term. The sooner he goes the better.