12 April 2012 By
Tariq Alhomayed There is no doubt that
Kofi Annan's mission was a failure before it even
started, and this is what I said over and over again,
but today, following the al-Assad regime's
announcement that it will not implement the terms of
Annan's mission, we can officially say that the
mission has failed; all that remains is for Annan to
declare it himself. The question now is: What next?
Will there be another initiative giving al-Assad the
opportunity to kill again? Of course, this is what the
rational and wise fear. What is happening in
Syria is not a crisis between two parties, rather it
is a revolution, a genuine Arab revolution, and what
we see are the people being held prisoner at the hands
of al-Assad's gangs, without impunity. Matters do not
stop here; yesterday the al-Assad regime opened fire
on the Lebanese border, and killed a Lebanese
journalist there. The same day al-Assad's troops
opened fire on the Turkish border, killing Syrian
refugees, and this means that Bashar al-Assad is
seeking to ignite the region at any cost. How can he
be given another chance? This is a dangerous, indeed
disastrous matter, and if this happens; the Syrian
people will not be the only ones to suffer, but rather
the entire region and its security. Thus today we must
begin to activate the operations room for those
interested in helping Syria, whether Arabs, Turks or
Westerners, so they can mobilize and impose a new
status quo on the Syrian ground, and stop the
bloodshed. Today Turkey must clarify its stance and
take more practical steps, for what is happening in
Syria affects its security and sovereignty. Today
Jordan must be decisive and move away from the grey
area, or the area of uncertainty where all solutions
and initiatives have failed. The latest initiative,
Kofi Annan's proposal, didn't fail because the West or
the Arabs wanted it to, but because al-Assad does not
want to be prosecuted or killed. Jordan must decide
what kind of future it wants for the region, and its
borders: Does Jordan want a desolate neighbor, choked
by an authoritarian ruler far worse than all the other
tyrants of the region? Or does Jordan want a Syria
free from tyranny, with a peaceful future for its
citizens and neighbors, and the entire region?
Therefore a coalition
to help Syria must mobilize, and Turkey and Jordan
need to define their stances, as does Washington
before them both. Yet [to pressure America to do so],
this requires an Arab diplomatic tour, consisting of
the states in the region capable of resolving the
matter. Whilst it should be
nearing its end, the al-Assad regime is continuing to
escalate matters, and is always pushing to the brink
of the abyss, making it difficult for others to find
solutions, in the sense that al-Assad makes the rules
of the game difficult and hence confines others to
inactivity, or limits them to taking "decisive" steps
that everyone knows the international community will
not live up to. Therefore, the coalition of states
interested in helping Syria must mobilize to further
increase pressure on the al-Assad regime, with
practical and effective steps on the ground. The al-Assad
regime only understands the language of force, because
that's what al-Assad himself believes in, and this is
what some of his visitors heard recently when he said
"the people should be afraid". This is why initiatives
have completely failed in Syria, and al-Assad must
understand that he must pay for his crimes today, and
not tomorrow! Thus we can say that
Annan's mission has failed, so will we now mobilize? Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London.
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