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Al-Assad’s delusions of survival! | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The Syrian President has pledged that he will “live and die” in Syrian, warning that any military attack on Syria will have major repercussions that will affect the entire world.

This is what the “inspired” leader, Bashar al-Assad, the butcher, said in his interview with a Russian TV channel.

This took place at a time when Lakhdar Brahimi’s mission is on the verge of failure following the collapse of the Eid al-Adha truce that he brokered. President Bashar al-Assad made these statements in the wake of attempts to smuggle Russian, North Korean and Iranian arms into Syria by land, sea and air being uncovered.

So Brahimi’s mediation is on the verge of failure, whilst the fighting is ongoing, and we are seeing more arms deals being signed. The last thing that we heard from Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, was that al-Assad will not be forced to leave and that he remains in control of the country’s affairs. As for the last time that we heard from Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, he was warning against the “Somalization” of Syria, saying that he fears that the country could “turn into a new Somalia.”

This comes following Obama’s election victory, and the US administration starting its second term in office, with a team of hawks present in the US State and Defense departments.

Yesterday, we heard that Obama was studying new administrative appointments, including appointing Senator John Kerry to the State Department and former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to the Defense Department. This is not to mention what is being talked about, albeit discretely, regarding changes in the White House’s National Security Council. All of this reflects a strong desire for a more hardline role in Washington’s relations with international crises.

Bashar al-Assad is counting on the world being convinced that there is no military solution in Syria, whether internally or externally, and that the official Syrian regime will survive in spite of everybody. Therefore, according to this scenario, al-Assad and his family, sect and work force believe that they will remain in power forever!

This represents a naïve delusion!

This regime will not remain in power for long, and the world will not accept this expensive bill in terms of bloodshed.

There is no international benefit for al-Assad’s survival, with the exception of Tehran and North Korea. As for Russia and China, they are becoming increasingly aware that they cannot continue to bet on this regime for long, indeed this could be the first political deal that they make with the newly re-elected Obama administration.

As for Hezbollah, it is witnessing a state of internal conflict to answer the question: what will happen to us in Lebanon following the fall of the al-Assad regime and the emergence of a new Syrian regime that views us as its greatest enemy?