The mass media have already pointed out the similarity between the current situation in Syria and that of Libya on the eve of the NATO military operation. For instance, the media campaign to totally discredit a dictator, which boosts conflict potential, was carried out in Gaddafi’s case as well, prior to military action. In both cases some pieces of information were never actually proven, but it didn’t matter. No one remembers the false allegation that Gaddafi's troops got rid of murdered civilians by throwing their corpses off a plane into the desert. NATO has a history of invasions with falsified ‘legal grounds’, for example, no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found in Iraq.
The Syrian media space was recently shaken by the news of a young girls’ murder, committed by the government’s special services. The girl’s brother is an opposition activist. A video posted on YouTube with a laconic heading “That’s what Assad’s promised reforms look like” showed the mutilated headless corpse of a young girl. And such reputable international human rights organizations as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accepted this media interpretation without any investigation, after the parents allegedly identified the corpse as their daughter, Zeineb al-Khusni. The poor girl became the new brand of the anti-Assad media campaign. Even the UN central office made a comment on the occasion. However, it turns out that the circumstances of the girl’s death were not quite what the media describes them as: the alleged victim was found alive and well and publicly denounced the rumors of her murder. The parents recognized their child and Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had to apologize for spreading disinformation. The question of identification of the corpse in the video, however, remains open.
The case of the ‘resurrected’ Zeinab is quite symbolic as a thought-through provocation, aimed at overturning the government of any given country. Nevertheless, the situation is still unequivocal. After four unidentified perpetrators shot dead one of the Kurdish opposition leaders, Mishaal Tammo, who was a member of the newly-formed national council, a new wave of protest demonstrations swirled over Syria. 50,000 people took part in his funeral ceremony, which swiftly turned into a demonstration in Kamyshli – a town in Kurdish territory in Syria, that wasn’t affected by the protest movement on a large scale up until this moment. According to media reports, Syrian military opened fire on the demonstration, killing two of the protestors. If Kurds – one tenths of Syrian population – are to join the opposition, the Damascus authorities will find themselves in an even worse position than they are now. Moreover, there is a risk of a wave of separatism on the part of the Syrian Kurds. So the question is: was Damascus even slightly interested in killing a Kurdish leader? It is possible that Tammo fell victim to those forces that want Kurds to be involved in the events in Syria. On the other hand, it’s true that dictators often become irrationally cruel in the face of their inevitable fall. The scale of the protest movement in Syria is too large to be explained by some influence of external forces.
Damascus has to implement reforms – all sides agree on that, even Russia. However, Moscow believes that the future of Syria should be forged by the Syrian people, and not by NATO troops. That is why the resolution on Syria, proposed by Western countries, was banned by Russia’s and China’s veto in the UN Security Council. Russian diplomats learned from the bitter experience of the Libyan intervention and now subject all proposals of the Western countries concerning Syria to attentive scrutiny.
Apparently, there is no chance that the West will be able to find a compromise with Russia and China, so instead Western leaders decided to criticize their opponents. The head of the UK's Foreign Ministry said that Russia and China made a wrong decision. Activists of the Syrian National Council, residing in Turkey, are also disappointed. According to one of the council’s members, Russia and China may have provoked greater violence by their vetos. Some opposition activists accused Russia and China of being willing accomplices in Assad’s crimes.
It is possible that soon the recognition of the National Council in Turkey as the legitimate government of Syria will be spread by a chain reaction. Taking this possibility into account, Syrian Foreign Minister promised to implement ‘harsh measures’ against any country that recognizes the legitimacy of the Council. Of course, Assad won’t be able to implement any measures against the US or France, but it is obvious that Assad’s government fears that if the Western coalition recognizes the Council as the official Syrian government, a military invasion will be on the way. Unfortunately, the number of precedents of the use of military force by the West to enforce its interests is only growing.
Orkhan Sattarov, the head of VK’s European bureau
