The world watching postAssad Syria attentively
The world watching post-Assad Syria attentively
TEHRAN - What is awaiting Syria is unclear given the history of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other groups that conquered major Syrian cities one after another in a very short time and toppled the government of Syrian President Bashar a-Assad.
There is a hope that the people’s jubilance over the fall of the Assad government will not be temporary.
It has been proven that a secular and despotic system is preferable to an unorthodox ideological ruling system.
That is why what is said about the HTS that it has taken a departure from its dark past – alliance with al-Qaida – is true and would not be tactical.
Naturally, opposition groups that have ousted the Assad government have divergent views and preferences. However, if they fail to reconcile their views when it comes to governance the problems will begin there.
What is essential is that the hopes of the Syrian people for gender equality, observation of the inalienable rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and political reforms must not be turned into despair.
The world noticed how the post-Saddam Iraq degenerated into chaos after the US invasion of the country in 2003 and the country became a haven for terrorists and vengeance against each other due to Washington’s miscalculations and ill-advised strategies.
The Syrians have suffered incredibly since March 2011, when the voices for democracy under the influence of the Arab Spring turned into a civil war. The heavy-handed treatment of the protestors by the Assad forces coupled with the misuse of the situation by interventionist countries, especially Turkey, pushed the country into chaos.
The situation started worsening in Syria as terrorists from different countries poured into Syria from Turkey and used Syria as a battleground for their resentment. It was because of this situation that Daesh (ISIL/ISIL) was born in 2014 and its violent acts superseded other terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.
Summarily speaking, what was called the Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.
The bitter events in the past two decades in Iraq and Syria and partly in Libya are before our eyes. Now, if the main players in post-Assad Syria don’t get lessons from these bitter events they should wait for undesirable events. If they fail to do so, other Abu Musab al-Zarqawis and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis will emerge in the country, which would in turn rattle neighbors and the regional countries.
To realize the goals of the Syrian people, the provisional rulers must gradually pave the ground for free and fair elections under the supervision of the United Nations in a calm and secure atmosphere.
source: tehrantimes.com