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09 November 2012 By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed It seems that the Syrians have
decided their own fate and completely washed their
hands of any foreign interference with their recent
announcement that five military fronts have been
established, representing the regions of the Syrian
Republic. This is the most significant announcement
since the establishment of the Free Syrian Army, which
was created in Turkey last July. With the announcement
of the five fronts, the Syrians have eased the burden
on the surrounding countries, including Turkey, and
now battles can be conducted from inside Syria itself.
The revolution has begun to face its fate; either it
will win, or the dream of the Syrian people will end. From the new formations we can interpret an
important message: the opposition is preparing for the
stage after the fall of the al-Assad regime, and is
tightening its management of areas threatened by chaos
and civil war. With the establishment of five military
leaderships, an alternative Syria is ready to move
from opposition to power in the final critical hour/at
the last minute, and face the most dangerous
challenges; chaos and civil war. What about Turkey and Jordan? They will play a
supporting role in the next phase, which the rebels
hope is not far away. On the declining role of Turkey,
one of the architects of the Syrian revolution said:
This is not true; it will remain an important player
despite the acceleration of external political action
from Doha, Cairo and Jordan… Transferring the military
command from Turkey to inside Syria will ease the
pressure on the former. Now the war has reached a
comprehensive stage, it is not just a series of
separate operations orchestrated from across the
border. It is certain that Turkey's role will remain
important because it is Syria's largest neighbor and
the most influential entity in the northern regions,
and specifically in the largest Syrian city Aleppo.
Perhaps, with allies of the Syrian revolution
insisting on its support in the face of
Iranian-Russian support for the al-Assad regime,
Turkey will be in a stronger position politically. The establishment of the five military fronts is a
test in itself for the Syrian revolution, which has
already been able to unite dozens of brigades and
formations, some of them very small, some of them
armed with crude weaponry, and some of them with very
limited resources whereby fighters have had to take
turns using a single weapon. Yet there are still armed
groups that do not recognize the military hierarchy,
and do not obey orders from the leadership, and some
of them have carried out acts no less heinous than
those committed by al-Assad's army and the Shabiha.
How will the new regional leaders be able to unite all
these armed groups, from professional military
dissidents to amateur revolutionaries? How will these
five new leaderships, with fragmented troops, be able
to direct a difficult war against an army supported by
all sorts of weapons? In fact, this question should
probably be directed towards the Arab and
international countries, which are yet to assume their
responsibility. The Syrian opposition has become more
unified after the meetings in Amman and Doha, and
after the rebels inside Syria declared the unity of
their ranks in military formations. Much is now expected from the countries concerned.
Millions of Syrians are now displaced within their own
country or have sought refuge abroad, and tens of
thousands of fighters expect more qualitative and
quantitative support in terms of arms and ammunition.
There is already political support for the opposition
in international forums, and finally a number of
countries are preparing to act so that Syria does not
disintegrate after the collapse of the regime, or
because of al-Assad's plot to divide it. Who knows, the final resolution to the conflict
might be relatively bloodless, contrary to our
expectations. It may be a political resolution that
maintains the body of the state, its army and its
institutions. On the other hand, the end could be
extremely difficult and costly.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai. |
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