Dr. Amira Abo el-Fetouh
The fourteenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution falls on 15 March. The butcher of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, feared the uprising of the Syrian people across the country against him and his tyrannical regime. The Russian intervention saved him, otherwise he would have been ousted years ago. He preferred for Syria to be occupied by Russia and for him to sit on Syria’s rubble as a phantom leader rather than end up like his fellow tyrants Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi and Ali Abdullah Saleh.
It was not only the butcher of Syria who trembled at the popular uprising; the kings andprinces of the Gulf shared his fear in case their people also sought freedom, dignity and democracy, and that they too would be overthrown. Some allied themselves with the Zionist entity, which was also disturbed by the Arab revolutions, because it regards its neigh bouring countries as its border guards. A command centre was established in the UAE from whichthey launched counter-revolutions in all of the Arab Spring countries. They wanted to intimidate anyone who dared to protest or demand freedom and a decent life.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE stood against the will of the people and supported and backed thetyrannical rulers, especially in Syria. The Syrians made huge sacrifices during their revolution, which many, near and far, conspired to abort and attack. Syria, decided the international community’s hyenas, had to drown in its own blood.
Their plots didn’t work.
After reclaiming Aleppo, Hama and Homs, the revolutionaries advanced to Damascus; Assad fled to Russia; and his regime fell on 8 December last year. The Assad Alawite regime had lasted for 54 years.
The sight of the people of Syria celebrating their victory did not please the counter-revolutionary states. The Zionist state especially was the most affected by the success of the revolution, and the revolutionaries’ rise to power in Syria; it lost a lot when its agent in Damascus fell, as did the occupiers Russia and Iran.
Iran banked on remaining in Syria for several decades and considered it to be the jewel in thePersian crown that linked its colonies in Iraq and Lebanon, where its proxy Hezbollah was cutoff from supplies when Assad fled. Its Shia crescent collapsed along with its Safavid project, which it had been working on since 1982, so it began to threaten the new regime in Syria and hint at a civil war. This came from the very top in Tehran.
The Iranians planned with some officers from Bashar’s dissolved army, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq, along with Maher Al-Assad, Bashar’s brother, to carry out a coup, in which many internal and external parties were involved. Sahel was the distraction, Damascus was the target. The Syrian security forces thwarted the attack, and the people of Syria took to the streets to defend their revolution. They were able to defeat the remnants of the Assad regime, while Bashar was no doubt following his failed coup fromMoscow, full of hope that it would succeed and that he would return to rule Syria again.
Assad’s hopes were dashed; the clock will not be turned back.
The people have spoken and supported their army and their interim President, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who faced the coup firmly and with steadfastness. He had declared an amnesty when the revolutionaries took Damascus in order to help spread peace in the country; he devoted himself and his administration to rebuilding the state without any diversionary revenge and retaliation. However, the Assad remnants did not appreciate this positive step and his good intentions and met it with treachery and betrayal. Hence, he had no choice but to take off his suit and tie and don military fatigues to become Abu Mohammad Al-Julani once more to put down the counter-revolution.
This coup attempt will not be the last; others will follow. I am sure that Al-Sharaa knows this, as there are many remnants of the Assad regime and its thugs, backed by Western and Arab countries as well as Israel. They are prepared to ally with the devil, as they are filled with blind hatred and sectarianism, and do not want Syria to be stable and secure.
The battle for liberation still has some way to go, so eliminating the traitors and making the state secure has to be a priority, otherwise Syria will return to turmoil, which is what itsenemies want. Once it is stabilised, practical reconstruction can begin across the country. If traitors, foreign agents and spies remain, this will be impossible, and true liberation will not have been achieved.
The return of the Assad regime is neither possible nor acceptable. Spreading rumours aboutthe return of Maher Al-Assad or putting forward officers of the defunct regime and otherfaces of the tyrannical era will not succeed. The Assad regime is gone forever. It has to be.
