The al-Assad Regime: Dirty secrets

In 1982, I was on holiday from university when I returned home to Saudi Arabia to perform the Umrah.  I found myself praying to God when an old woman sat down next to me; she quickly became engrossed in her own prayers and with eyes full of tears and her arms raised to the sky, I heard her praying in supplication “Oh Hafez al-Assad, may God damn you. May you wish for death long before it finds you!”  I shivered upon hearing this prayer, for it was one that I have never heard before or since.  I asked the old woman “is everything alright?” and she replied “listen my son; he [Hafez al-Assad] took my husband, my father, my sons, my sister, and my uncle from me during a period of just two days in Hama.”

This incident deeply impressed me, and I returned to university to research the Hama massacre.  There was scant information about this massacre at the time, yet this incident opened my eyes to a despotic and criminal regime that brutally suppressed and killed 45,000 of its own citizens in just a few days.  This [Hafez al-Assad] regime suspiciously “lost” the Golan Heights, exterminated all of its political opponents, put an end to the unity between Egypt and Syria, contributed to inter-Lebanese division, helped to incite a Lebanese civil war, and deceived the Arabs by utilizing false slogans promoting “Arabism”, all the while it was preparing itself to function as a launch-pad for a sectarian project in the heart of the Arab world.  This saw the Syrian regime moving to join ranks with Iran, against other Arab Baathist party regimes in the region.  Syria provided safe haven to a number of terrorist cells that struck terror in the heart of the Gulf States; from the attempted assassination of the Emir of Kuwait, to the Khobar Towers bombing, to the recent popular unrest in Bahrain.  The Syrian regime has contributed to inciting division between the different Palestinian factions, threatening to destroy any Palestinian faction that concludes a bilateral agreement with Israel.  The state of disunity between the Palestinian factions has intensified at the same rate as the escalation of Israel’s settlement policy.  The Syrian regime also backed a terrorist organization led by a Palestinian resistance figure that all Palestinian factions without exception rejected, namely Ahmed Jibril [leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command] who has been implicated in the Lockerbie bombing and other terrorist attacks.

As an Arab and a Muslim, I feel extremely ashamed of being part of a generation that allowed and accepted such crimes.  Many years have passed since the incident I related above, and now I find myself writing about the crimes of President al-Assad junior, who inherited the Syrian presidency from his father in a ridiculous manner and who is committing the same crimes as his father, as if history is repeating itself.  As I write these words, Bashar al-Assad’s tanks are bombing Deir al-Zour, Homs, and Idleb, killing over 60 people in a single day.  This regime is no longer an embarrassment to the Syrian people alone, but to the entire Arab and Muslim world.  The Syrian regime has suppressed and killed its own citizens more than Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Omar al-Bashir, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Jamal Abdul-Nasser put together.  Bashar al-Assad’s name will soon be added to those names that live in infamy, such as Hulaga Khan, Pol Pot, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mussolini, Mobutu Sese Seko, Mengistu Haile Mariam and others who suppressed and killed their own people, before the people revolted and rose up against them.

The Bashar al-Assad regime has left no room for itself, destroying any hope for it to remain in power.  All the promises of reform that Bashar al-Assad made long ago when he first came to power were nothing more than a sad attempt to disguise the ugly and brutal face of his regime.  The Syrian regime has only been successful in promoting the “worship” of the leader, and this was achieved not through propaganda, but rather with the backing of a lethal security apparatus that vowed to either kill or imprison any opponents or objectors.

The international community, and the Arab and Muslim world, should deal with the Bashar al-Assad regime as a failed state, both politically and morally.  Only then will we be able to get a better grasp of the situation.  The criminal Syrian regime threatening any government that might take a stand against it and support the Syrian revolutionaries represents an old and well-known approach, but this is something that we must not fear.  Rather we should fear God Almighty, who will ask us about our stance regarding this slaughter of the innocent Syrian people.  The regime’s box of dirty secrets has today been opened for all to see!