Many among the Syrian rebels will fight to the end to win the conflict and will do anything to sabotage the diplomatic effort that offers a non-violent solution, Eugene Puryear from the ANSWER coalition told RT.
RT:Is the final approval of a draft resolution going
to be a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis?
Eugene Puryear: I think there is certainly a possibility
there. It shows that we are trending towards a diplomatic
solution, at least on the issue of chemical weapons. But the
other issue that remains outstanding is what will happen outside
the issue of chemical weapons? Will diplomacy be pursued by the
US or will they continue to fund, as they have to fund the
opposition and arm the opposition and facilitate that happening
and try to deepen the conflict and overthrow Assad in another
way.
RT:The resolution will have no enforcement in line with
Chapter 7 of the UN Charter that allows the use of force if the
UNSC approves. Is this a victory for the Russian position on the
Syrian crisis?
EP: It is certainly a victory for the international
community and the idea that the United States can play the
judge-jury and executioner on this issue as they were trying to
determine for the whole world what was true and what was false.
So I think what has happened here, at least so far, is the
victory for the people of the world who have stood up and said
that they do not want a deeper war by the US in the Middle East
and in fact they want to see a diplomatic solution in Syria in
this conflict.
RT:In case either the government or the rebels violate
the convention on chemical weapons, the UN Security Council is
going to convene again in order to revise military
involvement. Do you think Syria will meet all the
conditions to avoid it?
EP: That latter piece is very important to see and we have
seen evidence presented today by Russia as to the potential
ability of the rebels to push these sorts of chemical weapons
attacks. I think certainly, the Security Council reconvenes and
this chemical weapons agreement is off track we could be in a
place where could happen again but I like to hope that is not the
case.
RT:Do you think Syria will meet all the
conditions?
EP: I'd like to hope so, we’re going to have to see. But
we have seen [others] far more willing than rebel forces to
engage in diplomacy on many issues. If you remember it was the
Syrian regime that accepted the Russian and American proposal for
the Geneva 2 peace talks and the rebels who rejected it. Despite
what we hear in a lot of the US media, there is no reason to
think that Syria will not hold up their end of the bargain,
particularly after they so enthusiastically pursued the Russian
proposal for a diplomatic solution.
RT:Sergey Lavrov also called on the Syrian opposition
to assist in the disarmament process. Is it possible and who is
going to be responsible for it, considering the divisions among
the rebels?
EP: It could be practical but certainly Syrian rebels have
shown that they very displeased from what they’ve seen in terms
of the chemical weapons agreement. We saw just the other day that
a number of rebel groups have rejected to a large degree the
leadership from exiled group and I think that many of them are
hell-bent on taking the Assad regime, by hooker or by crook,
anyway they possibly can and I think if they can find a way to
impede this investigation, they certainly might. I hope that is
not the case but they had not been anywhere as willing as the
Assad regime, or from that matter other forces of the
international community in trying to pursue a diplomatic solution
here.
RT:When would that be?
EP: Ultimately from their perspective they want to win at
all costs and the diplomatic solution presents the possibility
that the millions of people inside Syria who still do support the
Assad regime, who are many and variegated, they can play a role
in some post-civil war sort of government. And I think most
of the forces on the rebel's side, at least those who are
impeding these type of things, they do not want to see that. They
want to have complete control and they aren’t willing to
entertain a diplomatic solution that does not leave them on top
of the heap.
RT:The UN investigators are again in Syria to conduct
a probe into the use of chemicals last month as Russia called the
previous findings one sided. Can the new results somehow change
the process of disarming?
EP: Quite a bit rests on it. Obviously with the first
report that we saw was that the UN did not want to determine the
blame, so perhaps this second report will be more conclusive but
ultimately evidence that will come out of here will weigh very
heavily in the future. As to the so-called international
community, the UN reacts as well as what the situation is on the
ground and if further information comes out about if the rebels
did or did not use chemical weapons.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.