Damascus must be shocked from what it hears and
sees from its former regional allies. Turkey has not
ceased its denouncement of Syria's security practices,
and public criticism of the Syrian leadership. Qatar
has also dealt with Damascus negatively, with regards
to what is happening there. In an acrobatic move,
Hamas turned on Damascus, flew to Cairo and reconciled
with the Palestinian Authority, in the absence of the
Syrian leadership that is busy putting out fires in
Daraa, Duma, and the rest of its burning cities.
The Syrian regime must now see the failure of its
foreign policies and not only because of the positions
of these three parties, but more importantly because
it overlooked local factors in its foreign dealings.
What is the point of Syria's alliance with Iran, which
has become a burden, and where are the allies of the
good days? The three Syrian disappointments; Turkey,
Qatar and Hamas, reflect the realism that exists in
the management of Arab politics. No state wants to be
seen alongside a regime that is in conflict with its
own people, unless it is going through the same thing.
After the fall of the regime in Egypt, the myth of the
iron regime was dispelled, and states learned to delay
the disclosure of their real positions for a while. In
addition, the horror of repression in Syria makes Arab
governments an embarrassment to their citizens. No
government could provide open support unless it was
engaging in similar practices itself.
This reminds me of the embarrassing position I went
through about 30 years ago, when I was a university
student in the United States, whilst working at the
same time as a reporter for "al-Jazeera" newspaper. On
my way home during the university's Christmas
holidays, the editor Khalid al-Malik asked me to stop
over in Damascus in order to complete some work for
the newspaper. In the lobby of a hotel I sat next to a
Saudi diplomat, and we talked about the situation in
the Syrian capital, where there was a military
deployment and the route to the Sheraton Hotel
contained many barriers and checkpoints. At that time,
what became known as the "massacre of Hama" was taking
place. I told the diplomat that I was here on a task
unrelated to the incident, and he advised me to leave
immediately. It was feared that my presence would
contribute to the looming political crisis, because a
former colleague had passed me in Damascus. It was
said that the late President Hafez al-Assad seemed
like he wanted to talk about what had happened to the
Saudi press, and in order to conduct the interview,
Syrian media officials had found an obscure journalist
like me who was on a visit to the capital. [It was
said that I would be] quickly brought to the president
for a photo opportunity, and then conduct an interview
about the good relations and communication with Saudi
Arabia. In short the diplomat told me that such an
interview would not be published. It was clear that
everyone was deliberately distancing themselves from
the regime which was engaged in a bloody confrontation
with its citizens. The next day I left the city which
was covered in white snow.
Today history is repeating itself. Here is a friend
of Damascus, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey,
publicly warning the Assad regime that his government
cannot remain silent about what is happening there in
terms of repression, especially with the Turkish
elections coming up.
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