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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a speech on January 6, outlining what he said was a plan for peace. He said he was willing to talk with the "loyal opposition," but called the majority of rebels "a gang of killers" of foreign nationality and backing.
The U.S. State Department said Assad’s view of the situation is “detached from reality.”
Syria’s civil war
Fighting in Syria began as part of the string of protests against dictatorial governments that swept across the Arab world in January 2010. The protests, known collectively as the “Arab Spring,” brought down the long-standing autocratic governments of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, and forced other leaders in the region to enact reforms to appease their citizens.
But Assad has dug in and continues to justify military assaults on towns and cities by blaming criminals and terrorists for the country’s woes.
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A man is seen in the al-Amirya neighborhood of the city of Aleppo on December 2, 2012. Syrian artillery and aircraft battered rebel positions in and around Damascus in an operation to secure the capital, as Russia and Turkey prepared for talks on their differences over the conflict. |
Syria looks to the West
While the U.S. helped create a no-fly zone in Libya to prevent then-leader Moammar Gadhafi from bombing his own people, there has been no such action in Syria despite requests from rebel groups.
Syrian rebel groups have also requested weapons support and the establishment of an internationally protected humanitarian zone within Syria for those displaced by the fighting.
The United Nations Security Council has attempted to impose international sanctions on the Assad government, but Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed these efforts.
The failure of Western countries to act may become a point of contention if and when President Assad is overthrown.
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President Bashar al-Assad meets here with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. The Russians have supported Assad throughout the civil war, and helped to block UN sanctions meant to cripple his regime. |
"The people are not going to accept intervention by the West now. You were watching us die, and now that we close to victory you want to intervene? You are not welcome," Ous al-Arabi, a spokesman for one of the revolutionary groups, told The Daily Telegraph.
When Bashar al-Assad took power from his ailing father in 2000, international observers expected him to implement Western-style reforms, citing his education in England as an eye doctor and his marriage to a British-born woman. He dashed those hopes when he continued the same oppressive policing policies as his father.
What role will Iran play?
Iran is another country that factors into the situation, and is one of America’s greatest political foes in the region. The Iranian government publicly supports President Bashar al-Assad and his efforts to reclaim his country.
While most countries around the world panned Assad’s Jan. 6 speech, the Iranian government embraced it as a solid path to peace, and backed his assertion that the rebels were merely criminals and terrorists.
"This plan rejects violence and terrorism and any foreign interference in the country and outlines a future for the country... through a comprehensive political process," said Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a statement published by the state news agency.
If Bashar al-Assad is overthrown, the Syrian opposition groups who find themselves in power will have to balance a sense of betrayal and anger towards the West against tensions with Assad’s allies in Iran, Russia and China.
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I think we've been witnessing violence for years, whether in reality through the media or through video games, and I don't think that's a first-hand effect.
