Over 190 days have passed since the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation started, followed by the barbaric aggressive war on the Gaza Strip, and all that is happening in parallel of criminal retaliatory behavior in the West Bank and strikes on Syria and Lebanon. It is by far the longest war in the entire history of the Zionist entity, and it has not achieved any of its declared goals. Moreover, its predicament at the various levels is becoming deeper and more complex, while carrying the seeds of a comprehensive change in the entire system of the region. The unprecedented direct Iranian strikes on the Zionist entity are only one feature of that change.

Russian Foreign Ministry published a press release today, 6 April 6, 2024, On the meeting of the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and African Countries, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia M.L. Bogdanov with the representative of the leadership of the Syrian opposition Front for Change and Liberation, the head of Moscow Platform of the Syrian opposition, secretary of People's Will Party, dr. Kadri Jamil. Below is teh text of the press release:

The most important starting point for getting out of the Syrian tragedy is knowing the reasons that led us into it, and particularly knowing and understanding the mistakes of the past and learning from them so as not to repeat them. Only then can we talk not only about ways out of the crisis, but also about what should be done in the future, and in what direction we should move. If this is true of all types of policies, it is particularly true of socioeconomic policies.

There is a novelist who said: “When you repeat a mistake… it is a decision”. This is true of the behavior of successive Syrian governments in the way they deal with the IMF and the World Bank formulas for the countries of the Global South, as there are at least two different formulas, one for the countries of the Western Center, and the second for the countries of the Global South.

On March 22, a website named “al-Markazia” published an article entitled: “A paper of an American-Syrian understanding paving the way for the settlement phase”. The article claimed being based on a former minister with close knowledge of the paper, which included 13 points, including the demarcation of the borders with “Israel,” as a step towards peace in the region. The former minister said – again, as claimed by al-Markazia – that “Damascus rejects war and the opening of fronts, which it has implemented since October 7, as, unlike Hezbollah, it did not allow using its territory as a platform to confront Israel, even within the framework of supporting Gaza”.

The sides that say the solution to the Syrian crisis should be through Syrian-Syrian dialogue and that it is ultimately an internal Syrian matter are right. This opinion is the crux of UNSC Resolution 2254, which states that the Syrian people have the right to self-determination. It is also an opinion on which patriotic Syrian agree, regardless of their alignments.

Syria faces – in light of the circumstances it has gone and is going through – the risk of fragmentation as a serious and realistic risk. This risk grows as a result of the prolongation of the crisis, the de facto division, and the process of sweeping Syrians out of their country, which is in reinforced under the pressure of the tragic economic conditions. These conditions are the result of both the Western sanctions and blockade on the one hand, and internal corruption and liberal policies on the other hand, working hand in hand.

The recent briefing the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, presented on February 27 before the UN Security Council, showed that the Constitutional Committee meetings’ venue “dilemma” still exists. This is despite the fact that he ultimately sent an official invitation to hold the ninth round of the Constitutional Committee at the end of April in Geneva. What is not clear yet is whether or not it will be actually held.

Nearly 10 days ago, on February 14, the US House of Representatives passed a bill entitled the “Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act”. The bill still needs to pass the US Senate and get signed by the US President to become a law, which is expected to happen this year.

Kassioun’s last editorial took an initial look at the US bill titled the “Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act”, which passed in the US House of Representatives on February 14th, with completion of the process of its enactment requiring the Senate’s approval and then the US President’s ratification, a process that is expected to be completed before the end of 2024.