West would rather accept known ‘devil Assad’ than possible ‘jihadists regime’
The increase of Jihadist forces in Syria has become a major concern for the Western powers, who are now contemplating it might be better if President Assad stays, rather than have extremists take control of Syria, political analyst Chris Bambery told RT.
RT:Why is the Syrian opposition stalling
the decision on attending these talks?
Chris Bambery: Well, the truth is, the Syrian
National Council do not represent those people now fighting
inside Syria against the Assad government. Increasingly they are
looking towards al-Qaeda linked groups who are the spearhead of
that military campaign. And the Syrian National Council cannot
really speak now for the opposition in total. And we have the
American Secretary of State John Kerry desperately pleading with
them to come to Geneva. But at the same time, many of those
people engaged in the fighting who are radicalizing as a
consequence of all this and are looking towards Jihadi type
groups reject any role for the Geneva talks, they do not want to
go to Geneva.
So the Syrian National Council is caught between their backers in
the United States and the people they claim to represent in
Syria: the opposition who is increasingly becoming disenchanted
from that process. And I think today, the announcement by the
Assad regime, the offer of a ceasefire in Aleppo, will put the
onus on them as well, not just to go to Geneva, but will they
respond to this gesture by declaring a ceasefire and an exchange
of prisoners.
So the Syrian National Council is on the back foot and also is
increasingly being challenged whether it actually represents the
people who are doing the fighting and killing inside Syria. And
of course the answer is no.
RT:What we see is just the tip of the
iceberg; a lot of it is under water. But speaking of the
conference that ahead of us in just only a few days, if the
opposition refuses to participate, if it doesn’t come to the
conference, then is there any real point to holding peace
talks?
CB: I think there is a point of holding talks. I
think we should be encouraging talks at any level. But think the
truth is as well, it has been widely recognized that inside the
West and inside the United States, there is growing anxiety over
what is happening in the rebel-held areas of Syria and the growth
of al-Qaeda linked groups. And they are becoming more and more
concerned about this. They look at Libya and the mess created
there by the Western intervention, they see the growth of these
groups in Syria and indeed in neighboring Iraq.
And I think it is important to say that for these jihadist groups
the conflict in Syria and the conflict in Iraq, they are not
separate, they are one conflict and the West is becoming
increasingly concerned. In addition today, it was announced there
was one Canadian jihadist, one Australian jihadist have been
killed fighting for the rebel forces. This again puts a spotlight
on a number of people from North America, Australia and Europe,
who have traveled to fight inside Syria. The British government
claims some 300-400 British jihadists are fighting inside Syria
and Western governments are becoming afraid of what will happen
when these people return home. The mood is very different from
six months ago.
RT:You have just said that the West is
getting more and more concerned but to what extent did the
support from the West play a part in rebel support and what is
happening in the country?
CB:Well the truth is without the
intervention from the West, without the Americans in particular,
at the end of the day, it is very difficult for the rebels to
win.
The Saudis and the Qataris can provide money but they cannot
provide the heavy weaponry they need to defeat the Assad regime.
The only people who can provide that weaponry are the Americans.
The Americans have provided military aid, they are providing
training and so on, but have hesitated to provide heavy weapons
that the opposition needs and of course reports that weapons they
have supplied, the Turks and the Saudi have supplied, have been
seized by al-Qaeda linked groups will made them more reluctant to
step in.
So what we are seeing here is the retreat from a position six
months ago when the Americans wanted to physically attack Syrians
with cruise missiles. We were talking about arming the rebels
full on. There has been really quite a major retreat from that.
And of course there are people in the security service in the
West that are actually talking to the Assad regime about the
jihadists. There is open discussion in Washington about perhaps
it should be better to keep with the devil, we know Assad rather
than the devil we don’t know, these jihadist regimes. It is
completely different from six months ago when the Americans, if
you like, were gung ho, wanted to topple the Assad regime. Now,
they have pulled back.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.