Pressure Mounts Against Syria’s Assad
JERUSALEM—Yesterday, United Nations and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan again insisted that Iran should have a role in resolving the Syrian conflict, despite Washington’s objections.
Annan’s peace plan, which calls for a ceasefire on both sides, has yet to be implemented by the Assad government. Assad has since proposed a counteroffer to the plan, suggesting a new approach of concentrating on the most violent areas of the country first.
Meanwhile, the UN’s self-imposed July 20 deadline is approaching, when the Security Council must decide whether it will renew the mission of 300 observers who were to monitor Syria’s implementation of the plan. The mission was suspended last month, however, due to the civil war.
The ongoing instability in Syria has also prompted Lebanon to begin fortifying its border adjoining the war-torn country. After several border incidents in recent months, including ones in which civilians were wounded, Lebanon’s cabinet decided Monday to send troops north to reinforce the area. It’s a move that follows in the footsteps of Turkey, which became the first nation to dispatch troops to their shared border after Syrian forces shot down a Turkish plane last month.
Further north, Russia is continuing to assert its power in the area, as Tuesday it announced it had shipped 11 warships into the eastern Mediterranean, some of which are bound for Syria’s port in Tartus. According to the New York Times, nearly half of the ships dispatched could conceivably carry hundreds of marines.
“The announcement appeared intended to punctuate Russia’s effort to position itself as an increasingly decisive broker in resolving the anti-government uprising in Syria,” the New York Times reported yesterday. “[T]he unusually large size of the force announced on Tuesday was considered a message, not just to the region but also to the United States and other nations supporting the rebels now trying to depose Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.”
As Russia’s naval base in Tartus is “little more than a floating refueling station and some small barracks,” the Times points out, there hardly seems a need for such an influx of manpower into the area, unless Russia has different ideas in mind.
Despite Russia’s determined support for Syria’s government, global pressure is mounting against the Assad regime. With last week’s public defection of the Tlass family—a prominent Sunni family with previous strong ties to the Assad regime—the last vestiges of support for Assad within the nation are crumbling.
As the violence in Syria continues, watch for the Syria to experience a dramatic regime change. The new regime will likely be Sunni, sparking Syria’s prophesied break with Iran.
