Syria - Latest Analysis It seems that the military battles taking place between the various groups of the Syrian opposition and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) are part of the exigencies of the forthcoming period in Syria, the first of which is the Geneva II conference and the dialogue with Bashar Assad. Although US secretary of state, John Kerry, has denied reports alleging that Washington had met with representatives of the Islamic Front, the US ambassador to Damascus did, however, reveal that he had endeavoured to meet some of the Islamic Fronts leading figures in order to prepare for the Geneva II conference. It is true that the head of the Islamic Fronts political committee, Hassan Aboud, has denied having established any contact with the US ambassador, and irrespective of whether direct contact has taken place or not, it is, however, clear that the obedient servant of the White House, Saudi Arabia, had been behind the idea of forming the Islamic Front. This was designed to contain and organise the fighting groups, especially those who hoist the banner of Islam, in order to present it to people as an alternative to the groups categorised as terror organisations such as the ISIS and al-Nusrah. The Islamic Front, which has become the largest armed group and fought against ISIS, has not been labelled as a terrorist organisation; it has in fact been fighting “terrorism” alongside the Syrian Free Army and other groups which form the largest numbers fighting the regime. By continuing to fight ISIS on the ground, the Islamic Front has nullified the trump card of the Syrian regime, the Russians and the Iranians, who have been planning to attend the conference to debate the issue of terrorism. Walid al-Muallim stated recently that the: …main aim of the conference was to combat terrorism, which is exactly what the Russians and the Iranians want. This desire is consistent with the European wary stance vis-à-vis terrorism and its menace. Hence, the opposition had to take on terrorism to nullify that trump card and redirect the conference towards the agenda it had been set in the first instance, namely the executing the most important resolutions of the Geneva I conference that stipulated the forming of a transitional authority with full powers. The United Nations Secretary General has officially invited the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) to attend the conference. The Coalition is still the main party that the international powers are relying upon to represent the Syrian opposition at the conference despite some cracks appearing, especially since the public withdrawal of 40 members from the 121-member coalition after Saudi-backed Ahmed al-Jarba had defeated his rival, former Syrian prime minister Riyadh Hijab, in the SNC leadership contest. Other opposition personalities would not be discouraged from attending, either as groups or in their individual capacity. As for the relationship between the nascent Islamic Front and the SNC, the latter represents the internationally recognised official political face of the Syrian fighting opposition, despite the difference of opinion between the domestic and foreign opposition about the coalitions ability to represent them and even over the attendance of the Geneva II conference among the coalition cadres themselves. The decision to attend the conference is without a doubt not up to the coalition or the fighters; it is rather subject to regional volitions directed by international interests. This is not surprising since those groups and organisations could not survive without financial backing and arms supplies. The attack staged by the Islamic Front on ISIS, with the support of the SNC, has been viewed as a step towards projecting the good intentions of the revolution, which indicates an attempt to pave the way for linking the political representation to the fighting forces inside Syria that will facilitate the effectuation of the political process. The Islamic Front is the largest fighting faction inside Syria. It includes six main groups under its wing, namely the Islamic Army, al-Tawhid Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Sham, Ansar al-Sham Brigades and al-Haq Brigades; they have lately been joined by the Kurdish Islamic Front. The Islamic Front had proclaimed that its aim was to “topple the entire regime and build an Islamic state in which sovereignty would belong exclusively to the Shariah of Allah (swt), which will act as the reference point, authority, guide and regulator of the individual’s, society’s and the state’s behaviour.” Naturally, this aim does not please America who has always been talking about the need to establish a civil state as an alternative to the regime of Bashar Assad. However, her pragmatic approach would not deter her from attempting to achieve interim goals, just like she did with the Taliban. Hence, the Islamic Front is expected to fulfil an interim role and the Free Army is expected to merge with it and adopt the toppling of the regime as an interim goal. The merger of the Free Syrian Army will lend the Front a national aspect and will tone down its religious aspect. The official spokesperson of the Free Army, Luay al-Miqdad, has welcomed the move aimed at unifying the various groups under the Islamic Front and hoped the front would not impose its agenda on the Syrians, in reference to its aim to establish an Islamic State to replace the existing regime. As for the tackling of the divergence in the intellectual tendencies between the political opposition and the fighting groups, which constitutes the main obstacle in the face of settling the issue related to the shape and the nature of the forthcoming regime,in respect of the nascent Islamic Front for instance, a group of moderate leaders are expected to be groomed to eventually represent the revolution. The Islamic Front is not expected to deviate from the framework of the anticipated solution because it is backed and bankrolled by Americas agents and it could not survive if it refused to comply with the dictates of its sponsor, namely Saudi Arabia. The Front needs tens of millions of dollars every month to sustain itself, thus it would not come as a surprise if it was exploited in the future to deal al-Nusrah Front a blow, despite their current coordination on the ground, and to fight it with the same intensity as expelling of the Shia militia loyal to Bashar Assad. As for the rifts within the members of the SNC themselves and between the Coalition and the Free Army, they are mainly due to the affiliation of the leaders of the Free Army and the National Council to Qatar, whereas the Coalition is dominated by Saudi Arabia. There are a host of genuine differences between the members of the Coalition nurtured by the Saudi-Qatari tussle over control of the proceedings even though the “Arab Spring” file has virtually been taken away from Qatar by America and handed over to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in order to rein in the popular surge towards Islam and the Islamic Movements and to shore up the stance of the secularists who had lost their influence over political life due to the sweeping current of the Islamic tendency in the “Arab Spring”. America’s decision to weaken the ISIS organisation in Syria does not mean she has done away with the card of terrorism she has been using as a pretext to meddle in the domestic affairs of various states. However, America’s interests necessitated turning ISIS into a scapegoat for the political solution in Syria. In other words, America wanted to avoid a magnification of the terrorism issue at Geneva II. Furthermore, she capitalised on the errors of the way that the Salafi-orientated organisation is proceeding, especially its excessive bloodletting and its persistence in distorting the image of Islam’s implementation,for which the Ummah is calling;in other words, distorting the objective the Ummah is seeking with that which the organisation is calling for, namely establishing the Khilafah and implementing Islam, in addition to distorting the concept of Jihad by propagating the practices of the organisation that reflect an abhorrent image in this respect as well. Observers of the manoeuvres undertaken by America and the West can palpably sense the extent of hatred they harbour towards Islam and the Muslims. They have quenched their thirst for blood by killing tens of thousands of Muslims. They have been witnessing hundreds of thousands of Muslim youths, children and elderly getting injured and maimed without even batting an eyelid, in addition to the devastation and destruction of the Muslims lands and their economic and military faculties. America and the West have turned Syria into an arena for a ferocious war between the Muslims in the region on a sectarian basis. They have laid the foundations for the fragmentation of Syria in the future on ethnic and sectarian grounds. They have succeeded in partially alienating and driving away the Muslims from the implementing of the rules of Islam and consequently from the Khilafah, the ruling system in Islam, and they have also worked towards distorting the image of Jihad; they have even portrayed Islam as a divisive factor for the Islamic Ummah that could never unify her; unlike democracy, which approves pluralism and respects the opinion of the other. However, the problem lies fundamentally in the level of our Ummahs consciousness of her Deen and her alertness about what the enemies of this great Deen are plotting against her. 12 Rabi’ al-Awal 1435h 13 January 2014 hizbuttahrir.org
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:14:22 +0000