Guarantees of Syria's Unity

These risks have been complicated in direct proportion with the deepening of the conflict. The more the internal conflict developed, the more suitable the environment became for new transient exotic elements to emerge into the Syrian field, as the Takfiri Terrorism, for example, which was considered one of the most important tools of division, in terms of structure, positioning, and operators on the one hand, and the fact that it has become a scarecrow led to the revival of all traditional social structures in light of the existential concern which involved all people, and the subsequent unleashing of various armed phenomena, especially with the recession of state authority and function from wide areas of the Syrian territory, and the transformation of the intra-Syrian conflict, on its future development and political system, into an international and regional conflict on the Syrian soil, and into something similar to sharing of influence among those countries, regardless of the intentions and strategies of each.

With the defeat of Daesh's terrorism and the decline of the role of other terrorist organizations on the Syrian land after the direct entry of Russia, the most important carriers of the "creative chaos" have been virtually eliminated, but without eliminating the continuing risks and attempts to partition of the country, because of the continued foreign intervention, especially the intervention of those countries, which are considered the tools of the US strategy, that seeks to maintain the current status quo, and legitimize it in various ways and methods. The recent Turkish-American reciprocal services in the issue of Afrin through manipulation of the nationalist rift and the immoral investment in the Kurdish issue in Syria, came as one of these attempts (of maintaining and legitimizing the status que), which cost the residents of Afrin massive displacements, destruction of property and infrastructure, and the spread of concern throughout the Syrian north. In this context, the concern for Syria's unity is not merely a propaganda material used when necessary, but it should be reflected in concrete measures and practical stances, that require, first and foremost, exiting the labyrinth of regional and international entanglement, resistance against the Turkish occupation in all forms, returning all areas to the Syrian state, regardless of the political attitude toward the regime, and the legitimate seeking to the comprehensive national democratic radical change that must guarantee the rights of all Syrians.

In general, maintaining the unity of Syria requires a final departure from the illusions of quelling or restoration of the situation to pre-March 2011. On the contrary, opening the horizon for change is, in practice, the only way to preserve the unity of the country, restore national sovereignty and eliminate terrorism decisively. maintaining the unity of Syria requires also to stop any illusion of bringing in foreign intervention, because the only logical equivalent of external military intervention is division. And in such an intervention lies the death of any real change in favor of the Syrian people.

In other words, the real stance toward the unity of the country lies mainly in the stance of the consensus-based political solution on the basis of the UNSC Resolution no. 2254. Therefore, any impediment to the path of the political solution, including failure to implement the outcomes of Sochi would provide water for the mill of the country partition attempts, as this solution is the only guarantee to maintain the unity of the country.

Kassioun Editorial, Issue No 855, Mar.25, 2018