Syrian opposition wants UN intervention

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat- Following the first report by the Arab League observers’ delegation, led by Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi which said that both the Syrian regime and its opponents were involved in harassment and that there were indeed human rights violations by the government, the Syrian National Council [SNC], one of the largest Syrian opposition groups, renewed its call to the Arab League [AL] to refer the dossier to the UN Security Council [UNSC].

Commenting on the report, the executive director of the SNC’s press office, Muhammad Sarmini, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Our demand is for the AL to request the UNSC to adopt the principal conditions in the Arab initiative in accordance with the UN Charter’s Chapter 7 so as to open the way for seeking the help of sophisticated international expertise in this field.”  He stressed that the decision of the ministerial committee responsible for the Syrian dossier should not be delayed until the observers’ mission has been completed so as to force the regime to comply with the protocol as much as possible and to deter it from its inhuman practices against our people since it is trying to gain time so as to drag the country into a sectarian strife which it is seeking with all means.

“Giving the regime more time puts us all before a situation with which we need to deal with the required firmness and speed in order to protect security and stability in the entire region.” Sarmini said.

“That it is obvious that the AL is incapable of taking a decision that protects the Syrian people and therefore we will rely on the people’s pressure.”  He stressed that “we will not allow the world to continue to watch the number of martyrs increase” and added:  “For us, the regime is finished and we are resolving the matter and taking its hands off the Syrian people.”  He announced “we are preparing a message to the UN secretary general to convey our people’s demands in detail and put them before their historic responsibility in order to resolve the situation.” he added.

Muhammad al-Rahhal, chairman of the Syrian Revolution Coordination Committees, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the Arab observers’ delegation is part of the great conspiracy against the Syrian people.  What we are demanding today is an Arab and international fact-finding commission.  To send a committee of observers who are not qualified and without powers is useless because it is not enough to use binoculars and watch.”  He pointed out that “the observers’ delegation cannot, in its present condition, go anywhere.  It is an observing delegation that is observed at the same time.  Like the one sent to Iraq, the fact-finding commission has the right to search every needle’s eye in Syria.”

Rahhal underlined “the rejection of any initiative by Khalid Mishal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau, because he is not a neutral person.”  He pointed out that the “Arab initiative has taken two months of the revolution’s life while a martyr falls down every minute.  Is it permissible to wait?”  The AL secretary general had announced that Mishal was tasked with conveying a message to the Syrian leadership to stop the violence and repression in what observers considered evidence that the Arab initiative was stalling.

On the “Syrian revolution Facebook page, Syrian activists were very critical of the Arab observers’ delegation.  An activist calling himself the “Syrian spring” said mockingly:  “The observers group needs a new deadline to confirm there are armed terrorist groups which are killing the poor security elements.  They saw only a people being butchered during the first stage but they do not want such scenes.  This means they need six months to confirm that the regime is wronged and that the people and terrorist groups are actually killing it.”

Abu-Ayman wrote:  “If you are waiting for Bashar al-Assad to step down, stop the killing, and carry out reforms in the authority, then you are dreaming.  If you are expecting more killings, repression, control, and lies, then you are living in the reality.”  Dima asked:  “For how much will the Syrian blood be sold today?”  She added:  “A logical question that imposes itself in view of the AL’s meetings.  May God come to our support over the regime and its League.”