Dear Damascus

Syria’s developments and Iran's national security equation

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Dear Damascus
by Mehdi Mohammadi
23-Jul-2012
 

What has been going on in Syria, especially during the past week, represents a kind of borderline situation. The dominant view on the Syrian situation in Western circles is that the game is near the end: the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad will step down or will be forced to do so. However, this is not a factual explanation of the situation. In other words, this is part of a heavy psychological war which is supposed to expound the entire political situation in Syria. This is why realities are carefully picked up by Western media and only those realities which are in line with the above explanation are reflected.

We are now faced with two important questions. Firstly, what is the real nature of what is going on in Syria and possible future scenarios? Secondly, what is the sum total impact of the Syrian developments on Iran's national security variables, especially Iran's strategic conflict with the United States?

Let’s begin with the first question. The current situation in Syria can be described in its most accurate form in the following manner:

1. The ongoing unrest in Syria is not popular in nature. People are either spectators or victims. Those people who had already taken to streets to show their support for President Assad’s government, have become somehow passive and frustrated because they think that the government has lost part of its power to do its two main duties, which are supplying people’s livelihood and maintaining security. Passivity in defending the government is by no means tantamount to supporting the unrest. This has been proved by the fact that during the past few months the Syrian opposition has not been able to organize even one single major demonstration and popular rally in its support. This is also exactly why the opposition rejects any solution based on elections and negotiations. The opposition figures are well aware that if the general atmosphere is calmed down, at least to allow for a free elections, and if people went to the ballot boxes, they would never prefer radical Salafi elements who have already proven their unmatched flair in crime, to the ruling Alawites. The Syrian opposition is by no means a popular force. On the contrary, the fear that the Sunni majority has of a Salafi minority is a very important, and often censored, reality about the situation on the ground in Syria. It is the same reality which has prevented the opposition to accept any form of negotiations or even free elections.

2. It is quite clear that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and part of the country’s Islamist figures are also part of the anti-Assad unrest now. The important question is what are the Muslim Brotherhood’s main goals and why the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which is essentially very different from its counterparts in Egypt, Sudan, and Palestine, has decided out of a sudden to pave the way for the Zionist plots in Syria?

The fundaments of the Muslim Brotherhood’s behavior can be summarized as follows:

First – A certain part of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is actually pursuing to establish a new government in Syria which will implement the mandate of Sharia law – of course as perceived by Salafis – in the country. This is the part of the Muslim Brotherhood that even in case of Assad government’s fall, is very unlikely to enter into a compromise with Israel. Therefore, some analysts maintain that their motives for creating new conflicts in Syrian border areas which are adjacent to Israel are even more powerful than the Alawites.

Second – The second part of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has reached the conclusion that the future of the region is essentially at the Muslim Brotherhood’s hands. Therefore, they do not have to rely on governments which are not affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, although this group of the Muslim Brotherhood is well aware of the historical support provided by Syria for the anti-Israeli resistance front, they believe that new anchoring points like the new government in Egypt will make them needless of maintaining past relations with Syria.

Third – The third group which probably constitutes the majority of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is basically using outward concerns about Sharia as a means of attracting support from the ordinary people and money from Saudi Arabia. They are in cahoots with secular elements that are constantly in contact with France and the United States as well as similar political groups like the March 14 Alliance in Lebanon and the secular government of Jordan. This part forms the spine of the armed opposition in Syria.

The bottom line is that even in a best case scenario, the Muslim Brotherhood is making a dire strategic mistake. In a worst case scenario, they have reached a clandestine deal with the United States. An inevitable reality – which is again among those realities which are intentionally and generally censored – is that even if Assad’s government falls, the Americans will not allow the Syrian government to fall into the hands of that part of the Muslim Brotherhood which seeks to continue and even give more depth to the existing conflict with Israel. Therefore, if this group has decided to waste its energy and potentials on toppling Assad, the final result for it will be new banishment from the power and this time, by those who are in complete collusion with the United States and Israel. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood should know that the sole way for them to enter the government is survival of the current state and achieving a final agreement on a new system of government based on elections. Otherwise, even if Assad goes, they will not have their anti-Israeli government. There is also a pessimistic view according to which parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have reached the conclusion that they should basically give up the resistance strategy, accept the existence of Israel and reach a strategic agreement with the United States in order to keep future regional governments under control. At the first glance, this may seem to be not only too pessimistic, but also too naïve. Unfortunately, however, it should be noted that parts of the Islamic currents in the region – which are still a minority – have apparently reached the conclusion that, for example, Qatar, the only Arab country which has official relations with Israel, is a better base for the anti-Zionist resistance than Syria which has been supporting resistance for 30 years without asking anything in return!

3. The next issue about the Syrian unrest is that this phenomenon is basically non-indigenous and has its roots out of the Syrian borders. This unrest owes its continuation to plans made by the United States and European Union as well as the Arab League and finally the UN-Arab League special envoy on Syria, Kofi Annan. For example, since Annan’s peace plan has gotten underway and international observers have been based in Syria as part of that plan, the rate of violence has increased by more than 20 times. The reason is that behind its diplomatic façade, Annan plan is, in fact, a ploy to pursue a single strategic goal: to tie the hands of the Syrian army and give an opportunity to the opposition to regroup and rearm its forces. In addition, the plan lacked any specific political outlook from the beginning. That is, it never clarified in what way the crisis in Syria is supposed to hit its end. It was also silent on the future power structure in the country and specifications of the transition period.

4. Another important consideration is to have a clear understanding of the US and Israeli policies on the crisis in Syria. At present, firstly, the Americans have decided to leave Arabs and Turks to play the main role in developments on the ground with Washington and its allies staying back in the second line. The reason for adopting this strategy was that the US intelligence community believed that the United States Army cannot get involved in another direct conflict and a new crisis. Secondly, Israel was asked to completely hide its role in Syria and keep total lull on developments in that country, so that, nobody could incriminate the Syrian opposition to be Israel’s stooges.

5. The next point, which is not special to Syria and can be applied to the entire Arab Spring, is that from the very beginning of these developments, the Americans and Israelis, helped by the coalition between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, found a solution to contain the Arab Spring. They reached the conclusion that the best way for preventing Arab Spring developments to serve Iran's increasing power in the region was to turn the whole situation into a conflict between Shias and Sunnis. The archetype of Shia – Sunni animosity has turned into a tool in the hands of the Western states in order to distort the entire Arab spring. By doing this, they would be able to take the energy of the regional revolutionary figures and redirect it toward Iran instead of the United States and the West which are main masterminds of decades-old sufferings of the Arab world. As a result, the political forces released by the Arab Spring and Islamic revolutions in the region will spend much of their force on deepening Shia – Sunni rift in the region.

6. The last, but certainly not least, point about the realities in Syria is the necessity of having a correct understanding of the ruling system in the crisis-hit country.

a. The Syrian government has maintained its political, military and security integrity. There are, of course, small gaps created inside the Syrian society and there are sporadic activities among the military which aim at disintegrating the armed forces and submitting the country to the foreign elements. On the whole, however, even the most pessimistic observers believe that the Syrian government has stayed as a consolidated whole and is still in control of the country.

b. The Syrian opposition groups attempted in vain for a few months to get themselves a base along the Syrian border with its neighbors which would be copycat of Benghazi in Libya. This would have allowed them to repeat the Libyan scenario in Syria. However, during the past month, they have been given a new mission by the West’s intelligence services: they have been told to transfer their forces and facilities to the suburbs of the capital Damascus and get ready for a major operation in the city. The main premises of the opposition in their new plan was this:

- Firstly, they are not able to face the Syrian army outside Damascus;

- Secondly, due to physical and human limitations, the Syrian army will be less capable of facing the opposition inside Damascus;

- Thirdly, it is more possible inside Damascus to turn the conflict into a faceoff between Shia and Sunni Muslims; and

- Fourthly, any blow to the government, even a small one, inside Damascus will have a much bigger impact than even major blows dealt to Assad’s government in remote places.

Despite the above facts, the body of the existing evidence shows that during past days, as most locations in Syria were relatively calm and clashes in Syria were focused on the capital city, the Syrian army has had a remarkable upper hand. The recent suicide attack targeting the Syrian National Security Council in Damascus was exactly a direct result of the fact that the opposition has found itself in more dire straits that it originally expected. At any rate, it is beyond any doubt that Damascus is the last stop for the armed opposition. The government’s capacity to deal with such armed attacks has greatly increased due to three major reasons. Firstly, the true nature of the opposition has been revealed for the ordinary people. Secondly, people are backing the government stronger than before. And thirdly, the main figures of the opposition are now concentrated in a small geographical expanse.

Now, and following the aforesaid brief description of the situation in Syria, it is somehow easier to answer the second question. The second question is this: as long as the situation in Syria is concerned, in what direction Iran's national security indices are moving? The most prominent points to be taken into account when answering this question are as follows:

1. There is a high degree of confidence that the Syrian government will not fall in medium term. Perhaps it will be weakened or will become subject to more severe international pressures, however, the government in Syria will stay in place. As a result of this situation, firstly, the Syrian government will think of various security scenarios to take revenge of various parties that have been involved in the Syrian unrest as soon as it gets out of the current red alert security state. Secondly, its anti-American and anti-Israeli motivations will become hundreds of times stronger. This will certainly further strengthen the overall power of the anti-Israeli resistance axis in the region which will be of vital importance to Iran.

2. It is very unlikely that Russia and China will reach an agreement with the West over Syria. Both countries have already found out in Libya that the Americans have no plan to recognize or meet their national interests. On the contrary, the United States is trying to foment unrest in areas which are of vital importance to these two countries. Therefore, unlike the past experiences when the behavior of Russia and China was unpredictable and they were expected to forge an agreement with the United States at any moment, it is now clear that no deal will be reached between these two countries and the United States, even on Iran's nuclear dossier anymore. Creation of a reliable anti-West front consisting of Russia and China will be a strategic achievement for Iran.

3. It is obvious that the Western countries have attuned the schedule of their plans on Iran's nuclear program with the pace of political developments in Syria. If Syria gets out of the current crisis, the West’s diplomatic approach to Iran's nuclear energy program will totally change. The Western countries’ analysis is that Iran will only change its plans for going on with the nuclear energy program when it reaches the conclusion that its security index is going down and down. The fate of Syria is among few factors which can play a key role in making Iran reach that conclusion. Also, the high probability that Israel will fall into a state of chaos after Syria weathers the current dire straits is another factor which can make the West give major political concessions to Iran.

Therefore, despite what may seem on the surface, the strategic equation of the region as a result of the ongoing developments in Syria has by no means changed to the detriment of Iran. On the contrary, the outlook of future insecurity in Israel is clearly on the horizon and has made Western countries greatly concerned as of now.

Source: www.irannuc.ir
Translated By: www.IranReview.Org

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bushtheliberator

Weimar Germany? ?

by bushtheliberator on

I knew that Iran has problem with inflation. This essay shows that it now requires wheel barrels full of scrapeings from the IRI's coop to pay for one IRI chicken.


mahmoudghaffari

His first point can also describe the Islamic de-volution

by mahmoudghaffari on

To your first point, then the many millions who stayed home during 1979 revolution meant they did not support the revolution. Hence this revolution was a failure and a mistake from the beginning.  va salam.

 


hamsade ghadimi

great question iranfirst:

by hamsade ghadimi on

great question iranfirst: "Why is Mohammadi's "article" published on Iranian.com without reference to him being the political editor of Keyhan?!"

great answer maziar: "Maybe   jj can Answere that; he used to work there long time ago."


Cost-of-Progress

The flag of occupiers

by Cost-of-Progress on

No other nation on earth displays foriegn writings on its flag except you people. Shame on you and your anti-natioanlsit anti-Iran aspirations.


nojanthegreat

its not all about zionist or

by nojanthegreat on

its not all about zionist or west ,but we can not ignore the fact that foregn players are more involved than it should be . we all know US and his allies are active ,because its syria ,irans friend in middle east . i read an article in Nation and i saw some good point in it . //www.thenation.com/blog/168972/syrias-descent-all-out-civil-war 'No one outside Syria knows who the rebels are. The outside groups, such as the Syrian National Council and other self-styled spokesmen, have unclear ties to the forces on the ground. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is a major player, both inside and out. And the Muslim Brotherhood has been battling Assad at least since the 1970s, when it carried out a series of assassinations and bombings against the government of Hafez Assad, Bashar Assad’s late father. Many quick-study Syria experts point to the brutal put-down of the Brotherhood-led rebellion in Hama in 1982. But the Muslim Brotherhood’s war against Assad had long been raging even before that, including a horrific incident in June 1979, when the Muslim Brotherhood gang attacked a military school in Aleppo, Syria, and butchered eighty-three cadets, In November 1981, a massive car bomb linked to Islamist rebels killed 200 people in Damascus. During this period, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria had covert support from Israel and from Israel’s agents in Lebanon, including the infamous Major Saad Haddad, a Lebanese military officer recruited as an Israeli pawn in south Lebanon.' as he point it out peopel who are opposing assad are not looking for open society or and dialogs the are few diffrent between them and other revolutinaries in the area , we should not get fooled again just because some people say some cute things in their PR campain that does not mean they are sincear. you can not bring freedom and open societies when a country is not stable you can not become a nation of law if there is no goverment to monitor laws and rules . assad syria in not france but its far from saudi arabia or any other persian gulf nations . its remind me of Iraq during saddam , and after him . sometime we need to think with our brain not our heart . i am just tired of seeing bystanders getting killed so EU and USA can use Lybia's gas or syrias connection to europe

Bavafa

It is easy to blame every miss deed as a Zionist plot….

by Bavafa on

But at some point in life, some of us need to wake up and smell the roses.

  

For over a year and nearly 2000 people killed cannot be simply sell this as just another “Zionist plots”  where in fact many of those Zionist are rather nervous for what is happening in Syria.

  Of course the same notion i.e. unpopularity of the unrest was claimed in Iran, yet IRI had to deal with it with iron fist (read rape and murder) to deal with the so called unpopular unrest. 

Is it time yet for some folks to wake up and smell the coffee?

 

 

'Hambastegi' is the main key to victory 

Mehrdad


babak_mo

Too many bullet points

by babak_mo on

Dear Hezbollahi,

You are complicating it ..... it's actually pretty simple ..... your pimp in Syria will be gone and you and your kind will follow him soon 


Dr. Mohandes

To de best ov heez nowledge

by Dr. Mohandes on

Deez were all toroo information deespenesed by are cheeef editooor Okay?

Now, for de convenience of you dear iranian-american-swedish-bangladeshi foloks ve veel as ov tomorrrow some kiosks installed in your hoods (you know...just check with your local homeboy and they let you know) to ansver your quvestions. so beereeng all of it. eet eez all feeree ov charge and Brough to you by: your local newspapers.

Nice humanz...deez baseejees. Work for feeree. geeev dem a  dollar or a chicken eef your heart really burns. 

One question per indeeveejual. so better get your ...straight and together ( i love american eskpressions).

So I extent to you my dear fellows, my most sincere of invitations and i will cheerfully expect to see you all there (or be squared) IF YOU DONT SHOW VE VEEL KOME TO DE DOOR OV YOUR HOMES AND ONE BY ONE MAKE AND FORCE YOU TO AKKSS QUESTIONS. NOW SEE WHEN WE TOLD YOU:)) THIS LINE AND THIS SIGN.

vasalam o alaykum va folan o beesar...Shakhs shakhees reyees daftare Haj agha. 


zolfali1

wasting your time.

by zolfali1 on

after assad the child killer, next islamist murdering rats to be dragged out of their hiding holes  and pay for their crimes are khamenei & ahmadinejad.

go join the chicken line instead of these futile essays. 


maziar 58

Iran first

by maziar 58 on

*About your last Question........

Maybe   jj can Answere that; he used to work there long time ago.

Remember I SAID MAYBE.

Maziar


maziar 58

Islamic Ascendency

by maziar 58 on

For what's happening in middleast and the geniueses behind it.........

maybe 20..

will be the same as1990's collapse of communism.

Maziar


First Amendment

A very good read.....

by First Amendment on

A must-be-understood piece......Thanks.


IranFirst

Thanks Faramarz, and one Picture for Anahid

by IranFirst on

 

Thanks Faramarz, and here is one more picture of this Mehdi Mohammadi.

Anahid, this one is more islamic, since you asked :-)

In this picture you can almost see him count the reasons why IRI, Syria, Hezbolah, and Khamenei are winning against the West ...

//ipress.ir/Images/News/Larg_Pic/4-2-1391/IMA...

Anyway, it just takes a short time before these idiots all look ugly and Islamic and behave like their boss

//iran.blog.lemonde.fr/files/2010/09/iranhoss...

 

 


Anahid Hojjati

Thanks guys for Efshagaree

by Anahid Hojjati on

ghiafeash was not too bad. I hoped it would be worse. 


Faramarz

Thanks IranFirst

by Faramarz on

 

 

اطلاعاتی در باره مهدی محمدی از اینترنت:

مهدی محمدی دبیر سرویس سیاسی کیهان و جوانترین دبیر در بین روزنامه ها و مطبوعات کشور، رفت. به کجا؟ جزو تیم مذاکره کنندگان به همراه دکتر سعید جلیلی به اجلاس بغداد.

قول داده است اگر زیارت ارباب در کربلا هم دست نداد، در حرم باب الحوائج امام موسی بن جعفر و امام جواد «علیهم السلام» در کاظمین همه ما را دعا کنند.

اینهم قیافه نحسش!

//www.nasimonline.ir/Images/News/Larg_Pic/15-...


IranFirst

Mehdi Mohammadi is Political Editor of KEYHAN, what do U expect?

by IranFirst on

 

Mehdi Mohammadi is the Political Editor of KEYHAN, what do you  expect from this idiot to say?

Here is his "analysis" about Syria in Farsi

//fa.irannuc.ir/index.php?option=com_content&...

and here is the same garbage being regurgitated by Leveretts

//www.raceforiran.com/the-islamic-republic-of...

Why is Mohammadi's "article" published on Iranian.com without reference to him being the political editor of Keyhan?!

 


robertborden54

No more Bashar

by robertborden54 on

Clearly the IR regime is scared.  That's why we are getting this 'analysis' from some grad student somewhere in Iran.  Hopefully he is at least getting paid for it.

Some parts of the piece are laughable (foreign support is not the same as foreign instigation).  Other parts are at least logical.  But, although the Asad regime has mainatained some degree of cohesion it is starting to fall apart (Tlass defection, the Iraq ambassador's defection, etc.).  

Bottom line is you can't have massive fighting in your two biggest cities and have your national security office blow up and mainatin any degree of legitimacy.  I will bet that Bashar's regime has lost psychologically and that Bashar will not be in power 3 months from now. 

End of October: Bashar gone - Khamenei scared out of his wits.   


Faramarz

What a Bunch of Baloney!

by Faramarz on

 

 

It reads like something that the Regime-freindly crowd or the Cyber Basijis on this site might have written. Total Nonsense.


Zendanian

انقلاب سوریه : مصاحبه با رفیق سلامه کیله

Zendanian


پیوند(پاریس): ابتدا میخواهیم بدانیم به نظر شما ماهیّت جنبشی که در سوریه جریان دارد چیست و شما آنرا چگونه ارزیابی میکنید

-  رفیق سلامه: من فکر میکنم که انقلاب علی رغم مشکلات در حال پیشروی است و در حال حاضر تمام سوریه را در بر گرفته است. حتی اقشار اجتماعی که پشت رژیم بوده‌اند شروع به فاصله گرفتن کرده‌اند. کسبه و تجار که در ابتدای انقلاب از رژیم دفاع میکردند و به لباس شخصیها و یا ملیسیای رژیم یاری میرساندند امروز از او جدا شده و شروع به کمک به پیشبرد انقلاب کرده‌‌اند و یک سری اعتصابات در سطح بازار شروع شده است. اقلیّتهای مذهبی نیز که در ابتدا تردید بسیار داشتند به تدریج به انقلاب می‌پیوندند. مثلاً اسماعیلیان از همان روزهای اوّل در انقلاب شرکت داشتند. در حال حاضر دوروزیها با اهتمام بیشتر در انقلاب شرکت میکنند. مسیحیان نیز که در ابتدا نگران دخالت خارجی بودند و از به قدرت رسیدن اسلامیها می‌هراسیدند و از رژیم حمایت میکردند به انقلاب پیوسته اند. پایگاه اجتماعی رژیم تجار و طبقات میانی بود که بر اثر به قدرت رسیدن رژیم به آب و نانی رسیده بودند. سیاست رژیم از ابتدا این بود که این انقلاب را انقلاب سلفیستها و اسلامی ها نشان‌دهد. در ابتدا رژیم توانست در تبلیغاتش تا حدودی موفق شود و این به دلیل اشتباهاتی است که بخشی از مخالفین مرتکب شدند. به خصوص  مخالفینی که بیشتر در خارج سوریه زندگی میکنند. این اشتباهات دو جنبۀ اساسی داشت: یکی عبارت بود از دعوت از نیروهای خارجی به دخالت در سوریه که به خصوص باعث نگرانی مسیحیان میشد، با توجّه به وضعیِتی که برای مسیحیان در عراق به وجود آمد و ترس از تکرار آن تجربه برای مسیحیان سوریه و اشتباه دوم عبارت بود از تأکید بر گرایشات اسلامی انقلاب. به خصوص شخصیتهائی را مطرح کردند که به ضدّ شیعه بودن معروفیت دارند. این شخصیتها را در مقابل شیعیان علوی مطرح کردند. ادامۀ جنبش باعث شد که بسیاری از کسانی که در ابتدا مردد بودند وقتی که دیدند مسئله جدی است و سرنگونی رژیم در دستور است به انقلاب پیوستند.

//www.gozareshgar.com/10.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=17992&tx_ttnews[backPid]=23&cHash=c5ae44e1870fc19f31e159dff1a51f50


Zendanian

روز خشم ملت ایران در راه است، متحد شویم

Zendanian



Zendanian

فراخوان برای اعتراضات سراسری پس از سقوط بشار اسد

Zendanian


فراخوان برای اعتراضات سراسری پس از سقوط بشار اسد

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zrsz3vo05k