Nov 7, 2014

DAMASCUS, Syria — From his office adjacent to the presidential al-Rawda Palace in the heart of Damascus, a Syrian official goes about his work interpreting the landscape in his country and its surroundings at the military and internal and external political levels. He told Al-Monitor, “The military situation of our armed forces and the situation on the ground is more than good. The fall of the town of Murak to the Syrian army is a major achievement that can even be described as strategic. Control over this critical site guarantees total control of the Hama-Aleppo road. This implies that Aleppo city has almost fallen to the Syrian army militarily.”

It is therefore probably logical that the authorities in Damascus do not agree with the proposal by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to turn the city into a “freeze zone,” as it is being called, to be managed by moderate opposition members and to then talk later with Syrian authorities about restarting the Geneva path for a peaceful solution.

The Syrian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Ghouta is gradually falling to our troops. Douma city, the capital of the revolution and the headquarters of Zahran Alloush, the leader of the so-called Jaysh al-Islam, will be our army’s next target. Moreover, do not rule out the possibility of hearing about surprises on the ground in the coming weeks, of agreements in some areas controlled by gunmen, or of an announcement on reconciliations between armed groups and the Syrian authorities. We have reliable information that the financial blockade imposed by the Western coalition on the terrorists has begun to produce concrete preliminary results, for the first time in more than three years, in addition to the horrific conflicts between armed factions and the terrorists themselves.”

He said, “The situation in regime-controlled areas is almost normal. Any visitor to these areas can clearly see that. It is not an insignificant detail that the opening of the largest mall and hotel in Syria took place in the city of Latakia, for instance, two weeks ago.” Asked whether the opening means that the hotel will actually become operational, he replied, “The operation is waiting for the necessary investment and commercial agreements to be concluded with the operators and interested companies. Yet, the event itself is very significant under these particular circumstances.”

Of more importance is what is going on at the political level the official said. “It is obvious that the current Western coalition against terrorist forces will not totally succeed in achieving its stated goals. After this stage, one can look forward to a serious effort at a solution,” he said. The Syrian told Al-Monitor the content of what he called “indirect negotiations that were conducted months ago between Damascus and Washington.”