Bashar al-Assad becomes the antidote of ISIL

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said it directly while he was talking to press in Moscow the other day. He said a change had been seen in the West’s attitude toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after the Paris attacks. Then he made his golden shot, saying: “Stop calling for al-Assad to resign. Let go of that.”

There is another person who has caught signs of a change in the eyes of the West, prompted by the fear of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): Al-Assad. 

In the face of a savage organization like ISIL, al-Assad has become the “lesser evil.” Even the staunchest of his critics have started looking at him as the lesser of two evils. 

Lavrov is encouraged by this. He says it has been realized since the Paris massacre that asking for a Syria without al-Assad is unacceptable nonsense. Keeping al-Assad in his position was always more of a priority for Russia than finishing ISIL anyway, and now that the environment is suitable this “new reality” can be loudly voiced. 

It could only be ISIL itself that convinced the world that it is worse than al-Assad. It could only be ISIL that could successfully plant the fear of the “ISIL monster that will come if al-Assad goes.”

Lavrov seems to be sure of ISIL’s immense persuasive power. He is dictating that all other disputes should be left aside and all sides - from Russia to the U.S., from Iran to France - have no option but to unite and work together with al-Assad.

Al-Assad did the same thing on the day immediately after the attack, declaring that he was ready to cooperate and share intelligence with France if it changes its policies. What an amazing bribe. Actually, his foresight must have been very strong, as incidents are developing in such a way that proves the expectations of al-Assad and his allies. 

Back on Oct. 31, 2014, seated next to his guest Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Élysée Palace in Paris, Hollande spoke fearlessly and straightforwardly. “There are two enemies in Syria: One is ISIL, the other is the al-Assad regime,” he said. He even went one step further, declaring that these two common enemies were even cooperating with each other. 

Today, there is no trace of this Hollande of one year ago. The Paris massacre has radically changed his thoughts. “Our real enemy in Syria is not al-Assad, but ISIL,” he now says.

The intellectual enlightenment that Hollande has gone through is not limited to this. He has also declared that ISIL is an army with its own land, oil reserves, and currency. He is thus saying that France was attacked by a regular army. In fact, this description makes it less scary than fighting an invisible enemy underground.
 
Ultimately, the Hollande who once defined ISIL as a collaborator with al-Assad’s bloodthirsty army is now gone. The Hollande who believed both rivalled each other in barbarism has gone. In his place, a new Hollande has appeared who finds ISIL, which he calls a regular army, a much more savage and dangerous force than the al-Assad army. 

This miraculous change is the work of ISIL. Only ISIL itself could persuade the world that it is a much more vicious enemy than al-Assad.

What will al-Assad and his patrons Iran and Russia do now? It looks like Hollande is very close to accepting their offer to work together to defeat ISIL. 

In sum it looks like the Paris attack will change al-Assad’s destiny. 

His record of being a collaborator with ISIL has been cleared, and moreover he has moved up to the position of offering France cooperation against ISIL. From being the cause of ISIL, he has become the alternative to ISIL, its remedy, its antidote. 

Look what ISIL has accomplished from the moment it first appeared. Look at whose tools it has become. Look at how many it has brought into line with its savage shows…