Extended deadlock 'will secure Syria's victory'

Dubai: Syrian leaders believe they will win the confrontation with America if they manage to prolong the current situation for two years, a Syrian politician said.

Ayman Abdul Nour, a reformist member of the ruling Al Baath Party told Gulf News yesterday that Syrian leaders had made up their minds after careful evaluation of the advantages and threats facing the nation.

"Syria will come out of this confrontation with minimum losses because the regime is well-prepared for these kind of tussles," he said.

He said the Syrian leadership was convinced there would be no military action against the country.

"If the US wanted to remove the existing regime to install a loyal government by waging a war against the country, they would not accomplish this mission because Syrian leaders have succeeded in mobilising the nation against US interests in the region. Such a war would be so costly for the US that they would not think of launching it," Abdelnour said.

He said Syrians, including Islamists and anti-American camps, were convinced that America wanted to attack Syria to safeguard its interests in the region not as the US says to punish officials linked to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.

"The lessons the US learnt from Iraq are not easy to forget," Abdul Nour added.

He acknowledged that Syrian diplomacy had committed blunders in the past 10 months and was reacting rather than acting, but that did not mean Syria had lost the cards it used to have in the past.

Syria will cooperate with the investigation of the Hariri assassination on a legal level but will not hand over its hard core security officials for a trial because this would weaken the regime and affect the efficiency of security institutions in the country, he said.

"If the US and the EU decided to impose what they tag 'intelligent sanctions' which means sanctions against suspected officers and top officials in the country, Syria will find a way out through encouraging the private sector to handle economic activities and playing down the losses that might result from such sanctions," he said.

He said Syria had passed through harsh sanctions during the 80s and 90s and managed successfully.

"From an economic and financial point of views Syria is better off now than it was in its past two experiences with sanctions, it has achieved food security and a stock of US$ 15 billion.

"This will be enough for the country to get its necessary imports for more than two years during which Americans will be busy in their mid-term congress elections and the preparation for presidential elections by 2007. France on the other will be busy electing a president," he said.