Assad Should Reach Out to Opposition

They see the Washington meeting — held Thursday, March 24 — between Syrian exiles and US administration officials as nothing new, but it sends the unmistakable message that the United States is stepping up pressure on the Syrian regime.

According to analysts, the regime is to blame. The Syrian leadership, in the words of the opposition members, is giving an ample opportunity to the US-led interference by playing blind and refusing to halt its “oppressive” policies.

“The more the pressure is gaining momentum, the aggressive the regime becomes,” Akram Al-Benni, an opposition journalist and political analyst, told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, March 29.

He cited the oppression of an opposition rally on March 10, when undercover security agents accosted and assaulted rights activists and framed opposition members.

“It really surprises me that this regime hasn’t got the message yet. It should seek the protection of home-grown opposition instead of growing oppressive day in and day out,” Benni added.

Senior US officials involved in Middle East policymaking met in Washington Thursday with prominent Syrian Americans, including political activists, community leaders, academics and an opposition group.

“White House officials were present,” said a White House official who confirmed the meeting took place.

Representatives from other departments, including State and Defense, also took part.

US officials, however, denied the meeting was meant to coordinate efforts to oust the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, according to The Washington Post.

Foreign Interference

Benni, however, said that all opposition members at home, and a large portion of the exiles, are roundly rejecting any foreign interference in their motherlands.

A conference that grouped recently both camps in London issued a statement calling on the Syrian regime to introduce much-needed political reforms, annulling state security courts and emergency laws, releasing political prisoners and journalists, and guaranteeing a “safe” return for the exiles.

“In doing so, the Syrian regime will bridge a gulf and rebuild bridges of confidence with its citizens to join forces in nipping foreign schemes in the bud,” Benni added.

Haitham Al-Maleh, chairman of the Syrian Society for Human Rights, agreed that the “arrogance” of the Syrian regime helped the United States reach out to the opposition in exile.

He warned of the grave consequences of US cliché of spreading democracy worldwide. “Iraq is a case in point,” he said.

“We reject the interventionist agenda of the US despite we know for sure that the Syrian regime is nothing but a security organization in alliance with corrupt institutions,” Maleh added.

But he noted that the Syrian opposition “is trying now to rebuild what has been destroyed over up to 40 years of oppression.”

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with The Washington Post published on Saturday, March 26, that the administration was reaching out to as many people as possible on developments in Syria and Lebanon.

“What we’re trying to do is to assess the situation so that nobody is blindsided, because events are moving so fast and in such unpredictable directions that it is only prudent at this point to know what’s going on,” Rice told the Post.

“So we’re going to look at all the possibilities and talk to as many people as we possibly can,” she added.

Facing immense international pressure and popular protests, Syria has promised to withdraw all military personnel, intelligence agents and equipment it poured into Lebanon early in the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Damascus has completed the first stage of a two-phase withdrawal plan, pulling back to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and withdrawing more than a third of the 14,000 troops it kept in its neighbor.