Citizens, activists and analysts believe that an attack by Western powers on Syria could be “an exercise in futility if civilians are the casualties.”
Ahmad As Subai’i, chief of the Syrian community in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News in an interview by telephone: “As Syrians, we actually wanted this international support and escalation much earlier without having to wait until the Syrian regime mounted its worst attack. Still, we believe, this military action is meant to ‘discipline’ the regime and not bring it down.”
“I am also afraid there is a downside to this. By announcing its plans, the US is giving Assad’s military the room to withdraw from strategic locations like Qasiun Mountain north of Damascus and from other strongholds around the city, like the militia housing compound, not to mention the fact that senior military commanders have already left these posts for other more secure locations,” he said.
Michael Sa’d, a Syrian citizen, believes that it was the Assad regime that prompted this foreign interference. “I believe the West will capitalize on military action to achieve a number of objectives: to weaken the capability of the Syrian regime and force it to respect international red lines, to try to win over the Syrians who have grown to feel alienated from Western policies, and maybe to attack Jihadist and Islamist groups.
“It could also be to push the parties to go to Geneva 2 to try and negotiate a smooth transfer of power. In the end, the world will not allow the regime to fall in the hands of opposition and so it is keen on a political solution, which will keep in place part of the old regime structure,” he said.
Reza Anwar, a member of the Free Syrian Army, told Arab News by telephone from Syria: “All this sound and fury from the great Western powers is meant to make the Syrian case more fluid and to show the sympathy of the international community with victims of state terrorism, which would not have gone undeterred for so long had not the super powers themselves supervised it from the beginning.”
“As I see it, the only objective of the Western military action is to force the parties to the table that we revolutionaries will not accept. If that turns out to be the case, we simply will turn it down. We will not put ourselves and our kids at risk just to sit at the same table with traitors,” he said.
Ayman Atasi, another Syrian, said he won’t shed any tears for Assad. “He plunged the country into a bloodbath. Regardless of the outcome of the expected military action, Assad’s end will come. It is a matter of time before he goes down,” he said.
Syrians feel Western action could be too little, too late
