Another Military Push

Allusions of a Western military intervention in Syria are becoming more clear and obvious, despite the fact that NATO continues to claim that they have no intentions of taking this step. The larger powers are betting on the failure of former UN Secretary Kofi Annan’s mediation mission in Syria and are waiting for the green light to take military action against the Arab nation. Recently, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppé, suggested that the Security Council consider the use of force against Damascus if the UN observer mission was unable to stop the violence there.

And this proposal isn’t alone; rather, it’s part of a concerted effort between the centers of power. Juppé has made it clear that his country is negotiating with other powers about the possibility to use Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which gives the Security Council the power to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression,” and decide what actions need to be taken in order to “maintain or restore international peace and security.”

It is obvious that Paris’s thoughts are shared by the Pentagon, who studied the possibility of deploying troops to the border between Syria and Turkey. The aim would be to create a “security zone” as stated by Kathleen Hicks, the U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, on Friday before the Senate.

According to the aggressive declarations of Juppé — one of the strongest supporters of the war against Libya — decisions will be made after Annan presents the results of his mission to the 15 council members. On Monday this information will spread to 30 members and later reach all 300.

But recently the United States and France have made it clear that they believe the work of this group has failed and are pushing for stronger actions, such as suggesting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be overthrown. It is clear that they are laying the ground work.

It is true that the ceasefire reached with Annan’s help is fragile; the media claims that the Syrian government is to blame for silencing sabotages, kidnappings and assassinations of members of the opposition — including mercenaries from Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Gulf. This Friday, Damascus recorded more than 1,300 violations of the ceasefire committed by the opposition since April 12, when it was implemented.

The opposition groups continue to receive external financing, weapons and mercenaries that easily infiltrate the permeable Syrian border — despite Annan’s constant complaints to the United Nations and the Arab League.

The most irrefutable evidence of a sabotage of Annan’s plan by the great powers comes in the form of an international coalition dominated by friends of Syria with Washington at the helm. This group of more than 80 countries and international organizations wants Al-Assad gone and support the opposition, the Syrian National Council, as a “valid and legitimate representative” of the people. The objective is to strengthen the role of the opposition coalition, which has not yet rooted itself in the interior of the nation, and help it ally with the Free Syrian Army, a paramilitary group that assassinates, sabotages economic centers and profits from kidnappings.

As a part of this platform, the petroleum dictators of the Persian Gulf decided to contribute millions of dollars to pay the salaries of the members of the Syrian National Council and the Free Syrian Army, both supporters of an open military intervention. For a while they have been supporting the logistics; meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom have provided intelligence services. They pass it off as nothing more than sincere support for a country in crisis.

Given the actions of the armed groups and its sponsors, Damascus must do something: Its forces must prove that they are able to guarantee national security.

What Juppé proposed today is another step in a premeditated plan of the West: To make people believe that the Syrian government is not respecting the ceasefire in order to strengthen the case that the United Nations observers should be military, not civil.

Juppé and his supporters want to appear as though they did everything to “avoid” military intervention. But the truth is they are just looking to justify it.