UPDATES

US belatedly condemns Syria as Assad flaunts Western concerns

Jul 12, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz

US belatedly condemns Syria as Assad flaunts Western concerns
news_item/2feeb8e742b2a3e33c6de509910f.jpeg

This blog has been following the baffling hesitation that the West has been showing towards making criticisms of the Assad regime in Syria, despite intense crackdowns on civilian protestors, noting how Syria is interpreting this hesitation as a free pass to continue brutalising its civilians.

After months of ongoing strife within the country, the US and French ambassadors both made the decision on Friday to visit the besieged city of Hama, a rebel stronghold on which Syrian troops have been mounting a vicious assault over the last few days. As The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday, the Syrian regime responded by condemning the US and issuing an Orwellian accusation that the ambassador, Robert Ford, was inciting the violence in Hama.

The interior ministry said in a statement: ”The US ambassador met with saboteurs in Hama … who erected checkpoints, cut traffic and prevented citizens from going to work.

”The ambassador incited these saboteurs to violence, to demonstrate, and to refuse dialogue” with the government.

But the Syrian regime did not stop there. Reports were emerging yesterday that, with the encouragement of the regime, Syrian mobs were actually storming the French and US embassies in Damascus. As The Guardian reported:

Angry Syrians loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have stormed the US and French embassies in Damascus to protest against their ambassadors’ visits to Hama over the weekend – criticised by the Syrian government as a “flagrant intervention” in its affairs.

Demonstrators waving flags and pictures of the president surrounded the embassies, chanting slogans including “We will die for you, [President] Bashar [al-Assad]”.

Protesters, many of them bused in, scaled the US embassy building and replaced the stars and stripes with the Syrian flag. Graffiti were scrawled on the buildings, tomatoes and litter thrown, and glass smashed.

Men dressed in riot gear and security officers appeared to do nothing to restrain the crowds at the US embassy. At the French embassy, witnesses said shots were fired into the air to disperse the attacks. US ambassador Robert Ford’s residence also came under attack. Earlier, ad-Dounia, a TV station close to the regime, had called on people to send the ambassador a message.

Prompted by this, the US Administration has stepped up its criticism of the Assad regime, although the rhetoric is still very tepid in comparison to statements made regarding Libya’s Muammar Qadafi and even the former American ally, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. As AP reported, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke-out against Assad but fell short of explicitly calling for his removal.

“From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy,” Clinton told reporters at the State Department in a joint news conference with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. “He has failed to deliver on promises he has made, he has sought and accepted aid from the Iranians as to how to repress his own people.”… “President Assad is not indispensible and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power,” she said.

The US’ reluctance to take a strong stance on Syria has been construed by many as a serious strategic error, undermining the US’ already weakened credibility in the region. As the Washington Institute‘s Soner Cagaptay argues, Turkey may eventually become compelled to intervene in the absence of any Western efforts. This may not, however, be a negative development – Cagaptay predicts that a Turkish military operation in Syria would end Turkey’s flirtation with Iran and dramatically strengthen its ties with the US and Israel. It is important, however, that the US steps up to the plate and supports any potential Turkish efforts.

In 1998, Damascus stopped allowing the Kurdistan Workers Party to use its territory to launch terror attacks into Turkey, when Ankara threatened to invade Syria. Since then, the Turks have come to believe that Syria is neither a threat nor a source of instability and that Israel is the true problem in the region. This view would change with a Turkish intrusion into Syria, as would Turkey’s relationship with Israel, harkening back to the 1990s, when the two countries united against Damascus for its harboring of terrorist groups. The AKP’s decision to pressure Turkey’s NGOs to disengage from this year’s Gaza flotilla signifies the renewal of a Turkish realization that Israel could be an ally in an unstable region. In addition to reconfiguring Turkish-Israeli-Syrian ties, a Turkish incursion would drive a wedge between Ankara and Tehran, thus ending the honeymoon Ankara has pursued with Tehran since the Iraq War, when the two countries found themselves allied in their opposition to the U.S.-led campaign… A Turkish invasion would rejuvenate Turkish-U.S. ties, which have yet to recover fully from the Iraq War… now, Turkey and the U.S. are on the same page… A Turkish intervention in Syria, backed by the U.S. to uphold the nascent doctrine of “responsibility to protect,” would indeed warm up U.S.-Turkish ties beyond imagination. A can of worms, indeed.

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime has been continuing its supposed “national dialogue” to bring about reforms – despite the fact that, as noted by the Council on Foreign Relations’ Steven Cook, this is looking increasingly like a charade.  In the below video, Cook posits that unless the security forces turn against Assad, the violence is likely to escalate further.

Tags:

RELATED ARTICLES


Screenshot from a tiktok video showing Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets being launched at Israel from amidst civilians in a heavily populated area of Gaza

“Shield and Arrow”: Yet another Gaza conflict

May 12, 2023 | Update
Israelis celebrating Independence Day (Yom  Ha'atzmaut) in Tel Aviv (Photo: Shutterstock, Orlov Sergei)

Reflections on Israel’s 75th Birthday

May 3, 2023 | Update
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu announces a pause in his Government's judicial reform plans in a televised address on Monday, March 27  (Image: Youtube screenshot)

Israel’s controversial judicial reforms put on hold

Mar 29, 2023 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

The implications of the Iran-Saudi deal

Mar 17, 2023 | Update
A joint air force drill during the Israel-US "Juniper Oak" military exercises in January, which were widely interpreted as sending a signal to Iran (Image: Pentagon)

New diplomatic strategies with Iran for 2023

Mar 10, 2023 | Update
Screenshot from a video showing radical Israeli rioters torching Palestinian homes in the West Bank town of Huwara (Image: Twitter)

West Bank unrest escalates following violent riots by Jewish protesters in Huwara

Mar 1, 2023 | Update

SIGN UP FOR AIJAC EMAILS

RECENT POSTS

Mahmoud Abbas gives his Nakba Day speech at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Screenshot)

The UN Must Not Repeat Its ‘Nakba Day’ Farce

Protestor in Indonesia calling to ban Israel's team from the FIFA U-20 World Cup that Indonesia was meant to host (screenshot)

Sporting Boycotts require strong action by roof bodies

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

Mahmoud Abbas gives his Nakba Day speech at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Screenshot)

The UN Must Not Repeat Its ‘Nakba Day’ Farce

Protestor in Indonesia calling to ban Israel's team from the FIFA U-20 World Cup that Indonesia was meant to host (screenshot)

Sporting Boycotts require strong action by roof bodies

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

SORT BY TOPICS