Secret Approach to the President Could Reshape the Whole War<\/i><\/p>\n
Six weeks ago, a two-man delegation arrived in secret in Damascus: civilians from Aleppo who represented elements of the Free Syrian Army, the rebel group largely composed of fighters who deserted the regime\u2019s army in the first year of the war. They came under a guarantee of safety, and met, so I am told, a senior official on the staff of President Bashar al-Assad<\/a>. And they carried with them an extraordinary initiative \u2013 that there might be talks between the government and FSA officers who \u201cbelieved in a Syrian solution\u201d to the war.<\/p>\n The delegation made four points: that there must be an \u201cinternal Syrian dialogue\u201d; that private and public properties must be maintained; that there must be an end to \u2013 and condemnation of \u2013 civil, sectarian, ethnic strife; and that all must work for a democratic Syria<\/a> where the supremacy of law would be dominant. There was no demand \u2013 at least at this stage \u2013 for Assad\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n The reply apparently came promptly. There should indeed be \u201ca dialogue within the Syrian homeland\u201d; no preconditions for the dialogue; and a presidential guarantee of safety for any FSA<\/a> men participating. And now, it seems, another remarkable development is under way: in seven rebel-held areas of Aleppo, most of them under the control of the FSA, civil employees can return to work in their offices, and government institutions and schools can reopen. Students who have become militiamen over the past two years will be disarmed and return to their classrooms.<\/p>\n Some members of the FSA have formed what they call the \u201cNational Union for Saving Syria\u201d, although members of the political opposition in areas outside government control disrupted meetings by condemning the government army and, according to those involved in the \u201cUnion\u201d, making sectarian comments and condemning Shiites and Iran. Last week there were several defections of FSA units to the al-Qa\u2019ida-linked al-Nusra Front, which has complicated matters still further. If the FSA is prepared to talk to the regime, how many are now left to take part in future agreements between the two sides?<\/p>\n For months now, pro-regime officials have explored how they might win the army defectors back to their side \u2013 and the growth of al-Nusra and other Islamist groups has certainly disillusioned many thousands of FSA men who feel that their own revolution against the government has been stolen from them. And in areas of Homs province, it is a fact that fighting between the FSA and the army has virtually ceased. In some government-held villages and towns the FSA are already present without being molested.<\/p>\n And the advantages to Assad are clear. If FSA men could be persuaded to return to the ranks of the regime\u2019s army in complete safety, large areas of rebel-held territory would return to government control without a shot being fired. An army reinforced by its one-time deserters could then be turned against al-Nusra and its al-Qa\u2019ida affiliates in the name of national unity.<\/p>\n The Islamist fighters in the Syrian opposition are certainly a source of deep concern to everyone involved in the war \u2013 not least, of course, the Americans, who continue to dither over whether they should give weapons to the rebels. Had the US administration followed John McCain\u2019s advice, for example, some of the arms that might have been given to the FSA would already be in the hands of al-Nusra now that three units within the FSA have gone across to the Islamists.The Islamist fighters in Syria are meanwhile turning into a serious threat to the very existence of the country\u2019s Christians. Bishops and patriarchs from across the region met in Beirut last Friday to lament the exodus of the Christians of the Middle East; Catholic Maronite Cardinal Bechara Rai of Lebanon described how for Christians, \u201cthe \u2018Arab Spring\u2019 had turned to winter, to iron and fire\u201d.<\/p>\n The prelates were particularly upset at the massive damage to churches in Raqqa \u2013 now under the control of the al-Nusra group \u2013 and at the al-Nusra attack on Maaloula. I saw myself last week how perverse was this assault on the largely Christian Syrian town north of Damascus<\/a>. In Christian homes, crucifixes had been smashed, but the al-Nusra invaders seemed to take a perverse pleasure in wrecking their homes. In one basement flat\u00a0 they had emptied the fridge of food and stuffed it full of shoes.<\/p>\n Now that\u2019s something to bend your mind!<\/p>\n Curious Facts Colour UN’s Report<\/strong><\/p>\n So now the world has convinced itself that the Assad regime fired the sarin gas shells on 21 August, it really is time to read the full version of the UN chemical weapons inspectors’ report from Syria. The details of the death and suffering of the innocents of the Ghouta area of Damascus are fearful. Two brothers, it transpires, were the only survivors of their family of 40 who all lived in the same building. But one or two paragraphs need re-reading.<\/p>\n \u201cA leader of the local opposition forces (sic) who was deemed prominent in the area\u2026was identified and requested to take ‘custody’ of the [UN] Mission,\u201d it says. Naturally the UN inspectors would want to be kept safe. But they were, in effect, in the hands of the rebels. A list of questions for survivors was also \u201ccirculated to the opposition contacts\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n Rather more worrying, however, is a short paragraph on page 22. At the sites where sarin gas missiles landed, it says, the inspectors found that \u201cthe locations have been well traveled (sic) by other individuals prior to the arrival of the Mission\u2026 During the times spent at these locations, individuals arrived carrying other suspected munitions indicating that such potential evidence is being moved and possibly manipulated.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Manipulated? Odd, but I don’t remember that quotation in the media accounts of the inspectors’ report\u2026<\/p>\n ___________________________<\/p>\n Robert Fisk, based in Beirut, is a multiple award-winning journalist on the Middle East and a <\/i>correspondent for <\/i>The Independent, a UK newspaper.\u00a0 He is the author of many books on the region, including The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n