Serious setback to peace efforts in Syrian tangle

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury Efforts to find a settlement of the volatile Syrian crisis appear to have suffered a setback following the decision of the European Union (EU) not to extend arms embargo to the Syrian rebels. This means that the rebels would now get arms from the member states of the EU even though it was not immediately clear when the arms supply would take effect. Russia, the key supporter of the Bashar Al-Assad regime, has described the EU move as a step that would adversely affect the peace plan that Moscow is working with the supporter of the rebels - the United States. Russia also said that it would not stop supply of anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons to the Damascus government since such supply would help deter chances of foreign intervention in Syria, plagued by the two-year-old civil war. The development has come close on the heels of the recent flurry of high-flying diplomatic activities being witnessed at the international level for a resolution of the Syrian tangle that is becoming increasingly intractable on one hand and escalating on the other. The key players associated with the Syrian crisis in different forms seem to be quite active and are sparing no efforts towards making a headway in solving the crisis that has claimed more than 90,000 lives, according to some estimates. The civil war has turned 1.5 million Syrian as refugees, taking shelter elsewhere. But the problem is that all these "players", who have big stakes in the Syrian civil war - both the Syrians and the outside powers - have varying degrees of interests and as a result finding a common ground for a settlement is getting increasingly difficult. The EU's decision on arms supply has eclipsed whatever silver lining had emerged in the otherwise dark cloud. The rebels have also protested the supply of Russian missiles to the regime and they have come out against peace talks because of this development. Nevertheless, important quarters are engrossed in tough negotiations and the big powers are placing their cards obviously taking into account their own convenience. The United States and Turkey, undeniably the two key nations involved in the Syrian crisis, supporting the rebels, have met at summit level in Washington recently and resolved that president Bashar Al-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 upon the urgent need for an international conference on the crisis. Russian president Vladimir Putin has mooted the proposal with the visiting United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon and both agreed on the necessity of such a gathering to find out a solution to the Syrian conflict. The conference is expected to be held in Geneva shortly and the UN secretary general had talks on this with the United States and other nations. It is encouraging to see that both sides of the fence in the crisis - the regime and the rebels - have positively responded to the peace conference as they agreed to participate in the deliberations even though they are seeking to stick to their own known positions. The foreign players are trying to advance their own stakes. Prime ministers of Turkey and Israel have met the US president in Washington separately a few days ago 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, along with Russia, China has been supporting the Damascus regime although not as steadfastly as Russia. 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 in their own interest. Iran, another anti-American nation in the Middle East, is obviously opposing the Syrian rebels tooth and nail. The Hizbollah in Lebanon is actively supporting the 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. The "West" has accused Russia of supplying sophisticated arms to the Syrian regime and this has become a sour point between Washington and Moscow. But Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has turned down the charges, saying he failed to understand the "hue and cry" raised by the US since Moscow is an old arms supplier to Syria. Both the US and Russia are keen to carry forward the peace conference despite their differences, but clearly the efforts have hit snags. President Assad has indicated that the first instalment of Russian missiles has reached his country while Moscow appears to be a little ambiguous about the veracity of this information. Some analysts fear that the EU's decision on arms supply to the Syrian rebels would derail the proposed international conference while there is also a strong feeling that Washington and Moscow would not let this opportunity go totally wasted. zaglulbss@yahoo.com