Syria’s domestic opposition on Monday snubbed a call to dialogue from President Bashar al-Assad, as NATO powers challenged the leader’s defiant grip on power while dispatching Patriot missile batteries to neighbouring Turkey.
The cold shoulder by the National Coordination Body (NCB) for Democratic Change in Syria, a tolerated opposition group separate from the internationally recognised Syrian National Coalition, left Assad’s proposal without any takers.
And the common front by the United States, France, Britain and Turkey accentuated the international isolation Assad is suffering, a day after he gave a speech declaring he would not stop pounding “terrorist” rebels.
In the speech, Assad urged talks with opposition elements he deemed acceptable, explicitly excluding the main exiled opposition as “killers” dominated by non-Syrians and working for foreign masters.
But the head of the NCB, Hassan Abdel Azim, told a news conference in Damascus his group “will not take part in a national dialogue before violence stops,” political prisoners were released, humanitarian aid was delivered to conflict-torn areas, and missing Syrians were highlighted in a statement.
He also stated “there won’t be direct negotiations or dialogue with the regime,” but only within a framework headed by joint UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The NATO powers were even blunter.
Assad has lost touch with reality, Washington and Paris said, while London branded as “empty” the Syrian leader’s promise to hold dialogue.
The Syrian president was guilty of “state terrorism” by pursuing a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people since it started 21 months ago according to the UN, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“The proposals of somebody who kills his own people through bombs and planes cannot be democratic. He is shifting the blame by designating his opponents as Al-Qaeda or terrorists,” Erdogan said, according to Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency.
As if to underline the NATO’s rejection of Assad’s position, Dutch Patriot missile batteries on Monday left the Netherlands in a convoy for Turkey, where they will be set up as a defence against any aerial threat from Syria.
Some 400 US troops have already arrived in Turkey to man other US Patriot missile batteries that will be in place by the end of this month, joining two German Patriot systems also being sent.
The deployments have been strongly criticised by Syria’s main ally Iran, even as the Islamic republic was believed to keep up a flow of money, military advisors and, according to the United States, weapons to Assad’s regime.
On Monday, Tehran said it supported Assad’s “comprehensive” plan to restore peace but made no mention of its own six-point “peace plan” for Syria which has been largely ignored internationally.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition said Assad’s declaration ruling out any dialogue with the rebels and his insistence on staying in power made any negotiations impossible.
Analysts said it appeared Assad thought himself with enough of a military advantage to make such an uncompromising address.
“Today, the situation is stabilising a bit. The regime won’t win the war, but it knows it will still go on for some time,” said Thomas Pierret, Syria expert and professor at the University of Edinburgh.
“All of these developments are giving breathing space to a regime doomed in the future, which explains the timing of the speech,” he said.
Syria opposition cold-shoulders Assad; NATO flexes
