The Russian Foreign Ministry website has posted an announcement that the ministry praises Lakhdar Brahimi’s efforts in regulating the conflict in Syria. The official message reads: “Brahimi made significant contributions to organising the successful International Peace Conference on Syria in Montreux on January 22, which initiated the inter-Syrian negotiations”. The ministry also believes that the foundation laid by Brahimi needs to be further developed because at the present moment, “the negotiation process has been virtually frozen”.
Damascus, in turn, has repeatedly accused the special representative of going beyond his official duties and allowing “many mistakes” during the Geneva talks. According to Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of Syria to the UN, Lakhdar Brahimi sided with the Syrian opposition even though he should have only been acting as a mediator.
In reality, it would seem that the moment has come when a new special representative is needed with a new special mission. There are no doubts that not everyone will be aiding Brahimi’s new successor. Nevertheless, there is still the possibility that the new special representative can help lead global diplomacy out of the Syrian dead end.
However, there will be more than enough difficulties ahead, primarily due to the stance held by the west and headed by the United States, who are aiming to resolve the Syrian conflict only through the language of weapons while offering the opposition, which mainly consists of militants and criminals, significant military aid. Syrian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal Mekdad has accused the U.S., France and Great Britain of supporting terrorists who are operating in his country. In an article published in Lebanese media, the diplomat claims that the west is acting against Syrian reforms aimed at promoting democracy and developing a state government by the rule of law, while Israel is trying to disrupt the Syrian presidential elections scheduled for June 3. Mekdad writes, “We were shocked by the abuse of power and shameless interference from countries who claim to be democratic but who undeniably do now know the meaning of democracy”. The Deputy Minister again accused western authorities of upholding double standards and protecting “terrorists and murderers”.
There is a wealth of evidence to support this and here is just one piece of it. For the first time, U.S. President Barack Obama received the leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Ahmad Jarba in Washington. Meanwhile, the White House clarified that Obama only joined a meeting between the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Susan Rice and Jarba, who spent a week in Washington intending to achieve greater support for the opposition from the American government. Press Secretary of the U.S. Department of State Mary Harf stated that Washington intends to recognise the groups within the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition as foreign diplomatic representatives of Syria. In turn, Jarba thanked the U.S. president for agreeing to assist the Syrian opposition with $287 million and military supplies, including the supply of MANPADs.
The American president also stated that he is extending the so-called Syrian national emergency for a year. “The Syrian regime’s actions and policies, including supporting terrorist organizations and impeding the Lebanese government’s ability to function effectively, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Obama said in a message to Congress. In other words, the American administration has warned of its intentions to uphold and, if necessary, toughen sanctions, including economic sanctions, enacted against the Syrian authorities by Washington in 2004. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper stated that the White House believes Syria has become a mecca for global terrorism and that the number of jihadists in the country has already reached 26,000 people. CIA Director John Brennan noted that “We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaeda organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad”. No matter is complete without sounding a few alarms and as Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson puts it, “Syria has turned into a problem of our domestic security”.
Thanks to this “care” afforded by Washington and the multifaceted assistance it has provided to the opposition, the number of casualties in the Syrian civil war has climbed to 160,000 people over three years, which includes 8,000 children. This information is provided by the London-based Syrian Human Rights Monitoring Centre. In calculating the total casualties, the centre accounted for civilian victims, members of the Syrian army, foreign militants and the militias which rebelled against Bashar al-Assad. The greatest losses were among the civil population as around 54,000 Syrians fell victim to the war over three years.
A completely different policy aimed at a peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict is being promoted by Russia, who has presented a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which supports local reconciliation and normalising the political situation in Syria. The document is founded on the “positive experience of the reconciliation between Damascus and the rebels in Homs which entered into effect on May 2”. The draft resolution deals with the humanitarian aspects of the situation in the Middle Eastern country and is aimed at supporting talks between opposing sides.
The document talks of the necessity to advance the political process, however, the main starting point needs to be local reconciliation that was achieved at the beginning of the month. The document presented by the Russian Federation should not be considered a counter measure to the draft resolution proposed by France, which calls for the situation in Syria to be reviewed by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Many foreign politicians believe that the Russian initiative will allow for the country to take a step forward and to create a better environment which would foster political dispute resolution and would regulate the conflict in Syria as a whole.
Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich stated that Moscow “will still be acting with the goal of re-instating the Geneva process. We call upon our international partners to join us in our efforts. We are anticipating that the UN’s efforts will continue to focus on assisting and supporting inter-Syrian negotiations.”
Victor Mikhin, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
