Syria front: A proxy war

Now everyone realized there is a democracy deficiency in Syria. Was there ever democracy in Damascus? Never ever, but such a question is irrelevant. What is important now is the fact that at this particular moment there is a democracy deficiency in Syria and the ruthless dictator governing the country would either agree to transfer power or ways would be found to oust him from power.

How long would it take for the Bashar al-Assad dictatorial regime to collapse? The tall, bold, bald and every angry man of Ankara have been expecting the fall of Assad “any minute” for many months and apparently have no contingency plan that the end of the Assad reign in Damascus might not be that soon.

This film was seen in Syria some 30 years ago also. Conditions were of course different then. The world of that time was not as “transparent” as now. Information technology was not that advanced.

It was difficult to learn what might be the situation a few hundred kilometers away. Nor was it easy to fool people that easily with fake reports prepared by some intelligence services or propaganda units.
In 1982 the world was in a Cold War. Turkey was the front state of NATO against the Warsaw Pact led by the Soviets.

Syria was very much under Soviet influence and Ankara’s NATO allies were very much against Soviets enhancing their influence on Syria while NATO’s Arab collaborators in the Middle East were hoping to buy a proxy war with Iran in Syria with the Western might.

That was the background of the 1982 Hama massacre. Thirty years on, even today, no one knows exactly how many thousands were killed ruthlessly by the Hafez al-Assad regime. Some put the toll at a high 30,000; some claim it was “far less.” 

What remained intact, however, was how the “uprising” was funded and armed. In 1982 many Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, were supporting the rebels. The 1982 uprising, anyhow, was an effort by the Muslim Brotherhood to oust the “Nusayri” Assad regime and install a Sunni government in Damascus. At the time there was a coup government in Ankara led by four-star Gen. Kenan Evren. The “secularist” coup government in full collaboration with NATO and the Arab friends of NATO was in efforts to assist in any way possible the Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Syria.

At the time all kinds of Sunni Arab funding, arms and ammunition were reportedly provided to the rebels through Turkey. The end result was tragic for the rebels, as well as for Turkey. Rebels were ruthlessly crushed and from 1984 on Turkey has been suffering from separatist Kurdish terrorism which was assisted in any way possible by the Syrian government – as was evident with the chieftain of the gang being given the permission to live in Syria until February 1999.

Turkey’s Western allies and Arab friends are in a Syria operation for the past year once again. Rebels in Syria are being given all kinds of assistance through Turkey and a Free Syrian Army is being forged on Turkish territory according to some minister-level revelations. There are even claims the rebel Free Syrian Army is being trained by Turkish officers.

In 1982 it was a Cold War proxy war. What is it in 2012? A proxy war that might help to bring Iran down?