United States, Arab League Bless new Syrian Opposition

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | NOVEMBER 13, 2012

The U.S. government expressed support on Monday for the new Syrian opposition alliance, dominated by the Syrian National Council (CNS) and in which there are several important groups, and said it will work with them to continue providing humanitarian aid to the population. The U.S. itself had intervened days ago to question the leadership of the CNS, and called for more Syrian groups to get involved in what seems to be the transition government that will take power after Bashar al-Assad is removed from power.

The deputy spokesman of the State Department, Mark Toner, provided a statement in which he praised the Syrian people for the formation of the so-called National Coalition for the Forces of the Revolution and the Syrian opposition (CNFROS), agreed during a summit held in Doha (Qatar). Besides including representatives from the CNS, this new group also opened its doors to radical Islamist members of organizations linked to American made al-Qaeda.

The statement gives U.S. support for the new coalition to “trace a path to end the bloody government of Assad and the beginning of the future peaceful, democratic and fair to all the people of Syria deserve.” “We will work with the National Coalition to ensure that our non-lethal humanitarian aid and assistance serves the needs of the Syrian people,” Toner said. The spokesperson also said that the U.S. congratulated the Government of Qatar for his “strong leadership” and support of the Doha summit from which the new opposition alliance emerged over the last few days. This new coalition will remain dominated by the CNS but will have as one its main aims to end the division among opposition groups.

One of the key groups that did not even participate in the Doha talks is the National Coordination Council (NCC), which has a strong presence in the Syrian territory and are more likely to negotiate with the regime. According to the draft of the final agreement, the CNFROS will under no circumstance negotiate or talk with the regime led by Assad. It also provides for the formation of a transitional government after it gets international recognition.

More blessings from the Middle East

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was the first group of countries to recognize the new Syrian opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. This is the typical modus operandi used by opposition groups who gain the support from western aggressors to disavow democratically elected governments. Hours later, the Arab League, which suspended Syria’s membership for months, also decided to hold a meeting to recognize the newly created alliance.

Arab foreign ministers called on the rest of the current opposition to join the newly formed National Coalition formed by the forces of revolution and the Syrian opposition, and urged them to work to solve all the needs of the Syrian society “without exception or discrimination. ” Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, among others, confirmed their support for the move to change leadership in Damascus.

“The GCC Member States declare their recognition of the National Coalition of Syrian opposition forces and the revolution (…) as the legitimate representative of the Syrian brotherly people,” said a statement released by the GCC Secretary General, to Abdellatif Zayani.

The text explains that the Arab League will aid the opposition and its western supporters by providing all necessary so the alliance carries out the aspirations of the Syrian people, with the hope that [the group] is a step towards a speedy transfer of power”. The complete support given to the Syrian opposition means that the combination of terrorist groups already operating on Syrian territory will now have economic and military aid from Syrian neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Both countries had already recognized the rebels and expressed their desire to have the international community recognize the coalition.

The speed with which the GCC has responded to the formation of the opposition coalition, just a day before in Doha meeting is no surprise. Since the beginning of the western orchestrated Syrian revolt back in March 2011, this group has been very critical of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and has not hidden its preference to have him ousted. The nation of Qatar even offered to give Assad political asylum should he want to simply flee the country. Assad was very clear that as a Syrian man, he would live and die in his country.

Most Middle Eastern regimes, democratically elected or not prefer a weakened Syria because of Assad’s alliance with Iran. The move to supposedly help Assad flee the country are far from being good will gestures. Since Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father was the Syrian leader the rest of the Arab Peninsula have seen Syria as a potential powder keg but it wasn’t until now, after the West decided that it was time to take another country over, that the rest of the Arab nations threw their full support behind the opposition. Both the Arab countries and their western allies are looking forward to weakening Syrian and destroying the Assad regime to that it can be taken over by Islamic radicals. Once Syria falls, if it does, the West and the rest of the Arab countries will then focus their attention of the last bastion of opposition: Iran.

What the Arab League members do not seem to envision, is that provided that both Syria and Iran fall, they might just be the next ones in line.

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