The Syrians protested demanding freedom and dignity, however years later after the Syrian crisis, they are facing the loss of their whole country and they are scattered around the world. Syria became an international battlefield, and since the regime lost its legitimate sovereignty, Russia and Iran became in control of Syrian sovereignty.

That’s what Nero did, when he burned Rome and sat in his tower singing Homer’s poems, enjoying the sight of his country burning, but he eventually killed himself.

It seems that the Iranian occupation is the most serious one of the current occupations facing Syria, The Persian dream of expansion found the right opportunity to be fulfilled after having a great opportunity in occupying Iraq, controlling Lebanon, and it is waiting for a fourth one in Yemen.

As for Russia, it has no project beyond economic interests and to return to the international presence, after being weakened due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Its entry into Syria signaled the return of the Cold War, which is taking place now and about to turn it into a world war, if fools remained in control of the fate of the peoples.

Iranian interference

Since the beginning of the Iranian revolution, Arabs have been keen to establish good relations with Iran and took practical steps to strengthen relations with Tehran, as they were aware that being neighbors is a matter of history and geography. But the Persian project continued to expand, export the Iranian revolution and impose doctrines, which made the Arab friendliness burn in the flames of the Persian domination tendencies.

Iran’s interference in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and the repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia have increased the explosion risk, if Iran had good intentions for the Arab neighbors or accepted good neighborliness, it would have returned the three UAE islands which were occupied by the Shah regime; to their owners to start a new era of peace and tranquility for the peoples of the region.

Now with the successive failure of UN-sponsored negotiations in Syria, Yemen and Libya the gap increased, these negotiations were the only way to stop the bloodshed of Arabs.

In Syria, the negotiations reached a dead-end in its eighth round. I do not expect any breakthrough as long as Russia supports the Assad regime and wants to reproduce it. The Americans and the Europeans launched their latest plan in Paris few days ago, we hope it would take a serious and fair course before the Sochi Conference, it is impossible for the regime to survive by ruling with force and violence after it destroyed Syria.

Despite the cruelty the Syrians are suffering from, they adhere to the Geneva Declaration 1, the international resolution 2254 and the basics of the Geneva negotiations, which requires the establishment of a transitional governing body with the participation of those who were not involved in killing the people who support the regime itself and technocrats, this alone is a sufficient proof that the opposition understands the nature of the situation, its concern for the state’s institutions and for the safety and independence of the country.

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Riad Nasan Agha was the spokesman of the Supreme Commission for Syrian Negotiations and former Syrian Minister of Culture Riyadh. He tweets @riadagha1.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 14:02 - GMT 11:02