WESTERN COUNTRIES BEGIN CONTACTS WITH SYRIAN REBEL GOVERNMENT

Finally, Western countries have begun direct contacts with the rebel government formed in Damascus, to find out the political direction they intend to take, given that for the moment they continue to consider themselves close to the fundamentalist networks installed in the Middle East.

Germany has been chosen to establish contacts with the rebels in Damascus, representing the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Several governments of the Arab countries have joined in this effort, which are considered the first interested in knowing where the HTS rebels are headed; the formation that managed to defeat the Assad clan.

Yesterday, Monday, Bashir Al Assad broke his silence since he took refuge in Moscow with his family, in an interview with the British channel BBC in which he denied having betrayed the people of his country or its armed forces.

“It is propaganda to claim that our army bombed the rebels with deadly cluster bombs that cause irreparable damage. I did not give that order,” stresses the dethroned Syrian president.

But for the Western powers, what Assad says now matters little. What interests them is to know what plans the leader of HTS, Mohamed El Juliani, and those who form the first echelon of the new power have in their hands. Imagining that they can become interlocutors for Washington, Paris or London is a very risky operation, because the true roots of the rebels lead to Islamic terrorism.

One of the aspects that most interests the West is to know what kind of relations the new government in Damascus will establish with Iran and the terrorist movement ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Tehran, for the moment, has not openly spoken out against the rebels, thus giving proof of diplomatic caution.

An understanding between the HT and Tehran would represent a serious problem for the Western countries; but for the moment this is only a hypothesis believed by a minority of analysts. It is most likely that the Iranians will not be the ones to inspire the new executive in Damascus.

Turkey has not yet received guarantees from the new government that they will send the Kurdish minority existing in the north and east of Syria to the diaspora, which Ankara describes as terrorists affiliated with the PKK (Kurdish workers' party). Turkey considers it one of its worst enemies.

Therefore, we are in a waiting period and it is not appropriate to speculate about the near future. You cannot turn people who were affiliated with Al Qida into respectable figures in a few weeks.

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