Syria and Skype-Based Diplomacy!

At a time when Syrians are making amazing sacrifices to fight Assad’s killing machine, which is working towards destroying everything in Syria just to keep the Syrian dictator in power, the Americans, according to this edition of our newspaper, are using Skype to connect with the Free Syrian Army!

Amazingly, the U.N. and Arab League envoy al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi also held talks with the FSA through Skype. Is that what is needed? Can we say that this is sufficient to do justice to the Syrian uprising, which has so far seen nearly 30,000 deaths committed by the Assad regime, let alone the disappearances, displacements and level of destruction? Of course not! What is required is to provide the FSA with military aid, whose aim is not to make the conflict escalate, as some, especially Russia, claim, but to speed up the fall of what is left of the collapsing Assad regime. The government does not refrain from employing any means of violence. Military assistance to the FSA, especially in the form of anti-aircraft missiles, is what will put an end to the Syrian regime. Assad now only has superiority in the air, particularly since the FSA has been fighting Assad’s forces in Syria’s major cities, reducing Assad’s control on the ground.

What we see today is that despite the lack of military assistance, the FSA is engaged in an immensely brave war against Assad’s regime on several open fronts, in spite of the latter’s military and financial support from Russia and Iran. That is why it is surprising that contact with the FSA is taking place through Skype. In fact, what is required is proper military aid. Based on what I have heard from people informed of events on the ground, as soon as military assistance arrives, particularly anti-aircraft missiles, a quick end is expected to follow. As I said, Assad’s forces are relying on their air supremacy, and the shooting down of government warplanes by the FSA is a mere random operation with very limited success. It does not indicate that the possession of weapons is likely to defeat Assad’s forces, who are foolishly burning down the cities of Syria and fundamentally showing Assad’s desperation.

As expected and as confirmed to me by reliable sources, the U.S. will not move until after the coming elections. This has been discussed before. However, we cannot let down the Syrian people and the FSA at a time when Assad is intensifying military operations in the hope of making progress on the ground before the elections, with the backing of Russia and Iran. This requires the Friends of Syria to provide proper military assistance to the FSA, under the supervision of a common command center. There should be a central command center and clear military assistance, not various groups from different countries working independently and Skype-based networking. Assad is not using Facebook to suppress the rebellion so that Skype can be used as a response; he is killing and destroying in every criminal way possible.

Based on this, the response should take place on the ground, by providing the FSA with assistance. As for Skype, it should be kept aside for friends and acquaintances.