The most dangerous weapons directed by the Assad regime at the Syrian people are not only fighter jets, missiles, and tanks, not only detention and torture centers, and not only the destruction of homes over the heads of their owners. There is another one which is just as lethal as any of these: It is time.
Since 2011, the regime has been playing on the time factor. The regime is capitalizing on time hoping the outside world will get used to injustice and blood.
The aim behind all of this is to delude everyone into believing that the Assad regime is cooperating with them
Ariana Scorpoli
The regimes of the Assads, both the father and the son, have excelled in wasting time. This applies everywhere, be it in politics, at the negotiating tables, in meetings, and in the international arena. It is also true in dealing with the Arab League and its envoys, the UN and its delegates, and even with NGOs and media outlets.
The aim behind all of this is to delude everyone into believing that the Assad regime is cooperating with them. The regime delegations attend formal meetings in Geneva, Astana, and Sochi, with no other goal than to say that it is cooperative and interested.
Being good at playing the instrument of time is an old Assad technique that aims at either letting things get rotten or forgotten. This regime can be rightly called a master of the “waiting game.” Results do not matter. What is essential is the status quo: Keep things as they are and if you can bite off more, do it while maintaining what you have achieved so far.
This is a regime that wants to stay, so it will do whatever it takes to achieve this end. It will spare no effort to win any endeavor to remain in power.
Regional and world powers know perfectly well that time is on the regime’s side, but they also do not mind that, as they do not want a solution to the crisis
Ariana Scorpoli
The real problem is in the bodies that claim to be against this regime, including the opposition’s coalition, its transitional government, constitutional and negotiating committees’ delegates, and their representatives in the concerned meetings. They are either ignorant of the regime’s tactics or they are hired commissioners who do what they are ordered by those who chose them in the first place to represent the Syrian people. Time means nothing to them. On the contrary, the longer they stay in their positions, the greater their chances of material benefit and media spotlight, without concern for the situation of millions of displaced people and refugees, not to mention the detainees, the forcibly disappeared, and the families of the victims and the wounded whom they claim to represent. They don’t mind going on in the vicious circle forever.
Regional and world powers know perfectly well that time is on the regime’s side, but they also do not mind that, as they do not want a solution to the crisis. All what they are working on is managing Syria’s crisis and directing it according to their interests. This particularly applies to the United States, as it finds no problem in the passage of time as long as things are under control and go according to pre-made plans. Any other claims are for media purposes only. The fate of Friends of the Syrian People is one of the many proofs of this fact.
The Assad regime has its allies, explicit and implicit, and has time on its side as well while the Syrian people are left all alone
Ariana Scorpoli
The world knows well what is really taking place in Syria. Still, it is not just standing still but taking bit by bit the side of the Assad regime and starting the process of bringing back to the pre-2011 era.
In the final analysis of this bloody tug of war, the two sides are not evenly matched. The Assad regime has its allies, explicit and implicit, and has time on its side as well while the Syrian people are left all alone.
