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Doubts raised over legitimacy of who speaks for Syrians
The Courier-Mail
May 17, 201312:00AM
A LOADED word that overarches the international war of weapons and war of words over Syria is “legitimacy”. Like “terrorist”, the word is a weapon and the definition is always relative to the user.
The Syrian National Council had always declared the Bashar al-Assad Government is an “illegitimate occupying militia”. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was endorsed as the “legitimate voice of the Syrian people” last December.
But recent news bulletins have raised serious legitimacy questions about the anti-Assad forces. This is a blow to the core group of Syrian citizens who sought genuine reform without violence but whose cause has long since been hijacked by non-Syrians.
The recent YouTube video of a rebel soldier from the “heroes of Bab Amr” vowing cannibalism against “you soldiers of Bashar the dog” drew instant condemnation from the National Coalition.
“Such an act contradicts the principles of the Free Syrian Army,” the Coalition said.
Sadly this is not the worst of the atrocities committed by pro and anti-Assad forces but this video has badly backfired and has delegitimised the rebels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has now been described as a “propaganda front funded by the European Union” run by a “one man band” (Rami Abdulrahman) in Coventry in the UK. It is now regarded as reliable as the Syrian Government-run news agency, SANA.
Abdulrahman’s so-called monitoring agency has been oblivious to any stories that may delegitimise opposition to the Assad regime. For example, it has turned a blind eye to the call by Pope Francis for the release of two bishops from Kafr Dael, a rebel-controlled area in Syria. Both Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, were kidnapped by armed men on April 22.
Also ignored was the leader of al-Qa’ida groups operating in Syria, Abu Bakh al Baghdadi, recently revealing the opposition group, al-Nusra Front, was simply a branch of the Islamic state of Iraq. Ironically, al-Nusra is on the same side as the US Government (as in they are both opposed to the Assad regime), even though the US State Department declared it a terrorist organisation in December for trying to “hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purpose”.
This week, Today Tonight ran a series of stories revealing the intimidation, violence and police arrests of Syrian and Arab people in Australia who are divided by the nature of the Syrian conflict, those divisions also split along sectarian lines.
These stories showed how opposition to or support for the Assad regime among Syrians and other Arabs even living here can be of a violent nature.
There were red-faced leaders in America and elsewhere after the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria revealed it had “concrete suspicions” that rebel – anti-Government – forces had used sarin gas. This followed unfounded allegations, originally by the Israeli Government, that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons in the war.
With a peace conference now on the agenda, the US and UK have already started to qualify their language, referring to dealing only with the “moderate opposition” and finally conceding there is a “combustible mix” of opposition groups operating in Syria.
When peace activist Mother Agnes Miriam visited Australia in October, she was asked about her eyewitness experience of the Syrian opposition. Her answer, “Ayya mu’aarada?” (Which opposition?), raised many eyebrows as it did not fit in neatly with the “Arab Spring” template. She has sheltered many wounded mercenaries, negotiated the release of political prisoners, survived many death threats and practised what she preached, mussalaha (reconciliation). Mother Agnes has become a legitimate voice of peace in this international theatre of war and will visit Australia again next month.
In his recent meeting with the rebel leaders, US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford insisted that Assad “has lost his legitimacy and he must resign (and) the Syrians must create a new transitional government”.
What the US fails to realise is that it has lost its legitimacy as a peace broker, particularly given its $250 million pledge to opposition forces.