Syrian tangle: Assad's forces on the offensive

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Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury Forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have scored a major victory in the civil war against the rebels as they seized the entire Qusayr region in central Syria while efforts for peace talks on the crisis remains deadlocked. The success of the government troops came four days after the capture of the town of Qusayr that was in the hands of the rebels for last one year. The development has come as a shot in the arm of the Assad forces. Evidently, Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian regime, helped the troops in their success as the region borders Lebanon. Damascus regime considers this as a big achievement in the civil war. Earlier, peace efforts to find a way out of the Syrian crisis suffered a setback following the decision of the European Union not to extend the arms embargo to the Syrian rebels. This meant that the rebels could now get arms from the member states of the EU. British foreign secretary William Hague, however, said that they would not rush arms supply to the rebels. The EU decision came close on the heels of the flurry of high-flying diplomatic activities at the international level for a resolution of the Syrian tangle that has claimed more than 91,000 lives. The civil war has turned 1.5 Syrian refugees. The peace endeavour is being severely hampered as the rebels are unwilling for talks protesting Russian arms supply to the Syrian regime, which, on the other hand, protests EU decision of supply of arms to the rebels. The stand-off notwithstanding, important quarters are engrossed in tough negotiations and the big powers are placing their cards obviously taking into account their respective interest. The United States and Turkey, which support the rebels, say that President Assad has to "go" if a settlement of the crisis is to be reached. On the contrary, Russia, the staunchest supporter of the Assad regime, disapproves the idea of "removal" of the beleaguered Syrian president and instead has stressed the urgent need for an international conference on the crisis. Russian president Vladimir Putin mooted the proposal with United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon and both men agreed on the necessity of such a gathering to find out a solution of the Syrian conflict. The conference that was expected to be held June in Geneva, has now become somewhat uncertain but France hopes that it would be possible to hold it in July. The foreign players are also trying to advance their own stakes. Prime ministers of Turkey and Israel have met the US president in Washington separately recently and both have pressed for greater American involvement in favour of the rebels. Turkey is sheltering the biggest number of Syrian refugees while Israel is rabidly anti-Assad. On the other side, Russia and China have been supporting Damascus regime. Both Moscow and Beijing have blocked some proposals in the Security Council of the United Nations against the Syrian regime. They fear that the West is seeking to install a pro-Western government in Damascus to serve their interest. Iran, another anti-American nation in the Middle East, is obviously opposing the Syrian rebels tooth and nail. The Hezbollah in Lebanon is actively supporting the Assad regime while several Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supporters of the rebels. A recent meeting of the "Friends of Syria" in Jordan's capital Amman - under the aegis of the anti-Assad forums - came out with the plea to supply arms to the Syrian rebels. However, the domestic political problems in Turkey, a key supporter of the rebels, has dampened Ankara's stance on the Syrian issue. The success by the government forces in recent days makes one thing clear - President Assad has hardly any chance of quitting the Syrian scene unless something dramatic occurs against him. zaglulbss@yahoo.com