Only a political solution can save Syria from further catastrophe

What the Arabic press is saying about the current situation in Syria

Last Friday, the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria and called on neighbouring countries to stop the flow of weapons across the border. He went on to describe foreign powers and groups that have been supporting the warring factions as “irresponsible”.

Mr Ban outlined a six-point agenda, charting an integrated international action plan that would put an end to the ongoing conflict. He added that he would soon appoint a new international envoy to Syria, after Lakhdar Brahimi resigned last month following two unsuccessful rounds of peace talks.

Writing in the Lebanese daily Annahar, the columnist Ali Barada said: “The UN secretary-general took too long to delineate his vision on how to end the massacre in Syria. He waited almost 40 months, limiting his role to warnings as the war continued to expand.”

But it’s “better late than never”, he said, although it is difficult to envision a political way out of the gridlock in Syria. President Bashar Al Assad, recently re-elected for a third term, has obliterated whatever hope and possibility were there to come up with a political solution.

“The six-point agenda, proposed by the UN chief, must constitute the basis for a new dynamic that could prevent the imminent decline into a more catastrophic situation – a full-fledged Sunni-Shiite war that would eventually decimate the remaining precious minorities that have enriched the greater Fertile Crescent region,” the writer warned.

Meanwhile, the Syrian people, who found themselves thrown into the cauldron of bloody struggles, are disoriented, suggested Louai Hussein, the head of the Syrian Movement to Rebuild the Syrian State, in an opinion article in the pan-Arab Al Hayat newspaper.

“The people of Syria have no legal connection with the state. They lack the sense of citizenship, which could give a clear meaning to the ties between Syrians according to a set of binding values that they would all accept and defend,” he said.

This is due to the order that prevailed under the Assad regime for more than four decades, where social structures – tribes and sects – were demolished, instead of being substituted by a national structure based on citizenship and a legitimate citizens-state relationship.

When the former president Hafez Al Assad acceded to power in 1971, he established his long-lasting autocratic regime by transforming the state into a control tool rather than an integrated institution that regulates the public life and common interests of Syrians. State institutions were rapidly transformed into authoritarian instruments that the political-military authority used to suppress Syrians, who became mere subjects, he explained.

“Hence, Syrian citizens have disoriented allegiances. They welcome any group that could offer them some protection or some services, even radical, extremist groups that they have no experience with,” explained Hussein.

This, in itself, is evidence of the collapse of the Syrian state. It is also an indicator to the possibility of total disintegration of the Syrian political entity, which is why political leaderships must shoulder the task of addressing it.

“These leaderships must take into consideration national unity and central governance in any programmes or projects, should destiny grant us a historical opportunity to end the conflict and build a Syrian national state that brings equality and justice to all Syrians,” Hussein concluded.