Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, has likely made a fatal mistake for the future of his regime by alienating Turkey.
Early on in the 16-month uprising, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Assad to cease shelling crowded neighborhoods in towns where the rebels had holed up and urged the second-generation dictator to begin instituting needed democratic and economic reforms.
Assad ignored him, as he has other national leaders who have offered similar advice.
Instead, he stepped up the pace of bloodshed and, with support from Russia and Iran, dug in for the long haul against the rebels. Turkey had been a bystander, reluctantly offering sanctuary to civilian refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria.
However, Turkey has increasingly become a place for the rebels to retreat, refit and rearm, as well as a location for their wounded to be treated.
It is now openly the headquarters of the umbrella rebel group, the Free Syrian Army.
Intense fighting continues inside Syria, intense enough that the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission told the Security Council that it was too dangerous for the U.N. observers to return to the country.
Russia was alarmed enough for the security of one of its few friends in the Mideast to begin readying shipment of a half-billion dollars worth of arms — fighter jets, helicopters, air defense systems to Syria.
Those arms suggest the Russians are worried about outside military intervention.
But the U.S. and the other Western nations have repeatedly disavowed any intention of intervening in Syria.
The real threat, now that Assad has alienated Turkey, is better trained, armed and organized rebel forces operating from sanctuaries along the border.
Erdogan said recently, “Turkey will support Syrian people in every way until they get rid of the bloody dictator and his gang.”
Sounds like Assad has lost a friend.
The Gleaner, Henderson, Ky. (July 5)
Assad’s got bigger problems than the Turk’s. For the moment the majority of the Syrian refugee’s are fleeing north. But the minute they start going south, into Jordan, Assad’s gonna have the whole of the Middle East lined up against him since King Abdullah is considered one of the most, if not THE most, moderate and progressive of the Arab ruler’s. Abdullah’s not bashful about providing support when he see’s the need. He’s also VERY aggressive when it comes to preventing any type of nonsense from coming over Jordan’s border’s. His late father, King Hussein, taught him that when Black September tried to overthrow Hussein’s government in the mid-70’s. And given the fact that the Russian’s are now NOT sending him any more arms, Assad’s gonna start running out of ammo pretty quick if his Army keeps shooting up the local neighborhood’s at the rate he’s going. His time to ‘get outta Dodge’ is now. He keeps trying to hang on to power he’s gonna find out that eventually someone in his Palace staff is gonna have a BIG change of heart and attitude and decide to ‘remove’ him. That he’s ignoring the lesson’s of Libya is just another sign that Assad’s either not paying attention to the situation or he’s getting some pretty lousy advice from whoever his adviser’s are. Either way, he’s going to go and the only thing to set is the timing.
The only option’s that Assad really has are how soon and is it going to be breathing. Given Kadhaffi’s final position, one would think that even Assad can read the writing on the wall. And with the numerous news service’s broadcasting from inside Syria, he would be well advise to realize that a War Crimes Tribunal is very much in the offing. Either way, it’s time to call it quit’s.