لسوريا الغالية

Here I am on New Year’s Eve, alone in front of my computer. By choice. Because I wanted to offer you my New Year’s Eve and make something either visible or efficient out of it. But I ran out of inspiration and stayed home. Everything is either forbidden or useless, and would people even care ? I am watching the news, people quoting Syria’s statistics for 2013, listening to the sound of fireworks nearby and counting the number of explosions that occurred in Homs and Damascus at midnight on twitter.

Everyone I meet keeps telling me how amazing it is that Geneva II is taking place soon, that the world finally took a step with this agreement on chemical weapons, bla bla. When I listen to them I remember myself back in the days when we were discussing foreign affairs with friends, unaware of what it actually represented ; war, fear, death, empty words. Talking about politics as if it was a game, discussing the issues, each party’s interests and legacy. But people are not numbers, we’d better all remember this truth.

The agreement on chemical weapons ? This is how the world laughed at Syrians’ faces, saying “See, this is how easy it is to fool you while pretending to help”. It was an implicit green light to slaughter the entire people using any other weapons. It also justified the massacres that took place in Nabek and Yabroud in order to secure the path for Chemical Weapons to be shipped to Lattakia. Moreover it gave people the (obviously false) impression that the international community was (finally) reacting. Bullshit.

The polio cases in Syria ? Obviously the worst problem we’re facing as of today, right ? Because now the suffering of the Syrian people can reach other countries. Except that the very reason these cases appeared is because we let the Assad regime besiege entire areas (Moaadamyiah, Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, Deir Ezzor, besieged Ghouta & Homs etc) preventing both food and medication from entering, leading to many cases of death by starvation . Or illness. Due to the lack of hygiene. Which was his new strategy to kill Syrians in masses, in a much more painful way. Chemical weapons had become too mainstream. And anyway, starving one’s people to death is allowed right ? As long as it isn’t as noticeable as CW.

Djihadists ? Al-Qaeda ? Because one joint enemy was not quite enough to deal with here comes the big bad wolf, feared and fought by the whole world, taking away the opposition’s credibility as efficiently as Assad gazed Eastern Ghouta last summer, and with it the little support they had. Usually confused with the opposition, their presence soon lead the whole world to think that after all Assad was not that bad an alternative. It’s an easy thing to say when you’re not the one at stake, isn’t it ? Moreover, it is now common knowledge that they work hand in hand with the regime, who released thousands of djihadists arrested in the 1980s raids and in 2003 to go support them.

Barrel bombs in Aleppo ? RT : “How humiliating to be killed by a barrel bomb: Your government hates you so much that you are not even worth a real bomb.” More than 1200 dead in less than 10 days. No reaction. And yet you pretend you want to solve the conflict.

And as misery loves company, 2013 and her neighbors have witnessed the coldest Syrian winters in a long time, escorted by its share of snow, not mentioning the usual power cuts 80% of the time and the oil shortage that occurred because of Kalamoon battle. People were now freezing to death.

Geneva II ? The international community’s next farce : spending millions to welcome 29 countries to talk on how to solve the Syrian crisis. Because obviously 29 countries have their say on how to solve the Syrian crisis but not the millions of kids who can’t eat or go to school anymore. Because the regional stability is more important than 23 million people, nothing new here.

But let’s talk about this pretended stability ; do you actually think that the opposition will stop fighting if Assad stays as recently planned by the international community ? There is at least one martyr by family, usually more. People are hurt and tired, their lives and houses have been destroyed ; they desperately need some rest. But they also remember Hama’s massacre back in 1982. The regime keeps records of everything and will chase each and every person who once took a stand against him, and eventually will kill or arrest all opponents. (Aka half of the population, including millions of children who are obviously dangerous terrorists.) There would be no end to the suffering of the Syrian people and thus no ceasefire. Do you want peace ? Put Assad off. However my question is, do you actually want peace ?

2013 has been a harsh year for Syria and as optimistic as I usually am I can’t help but think that darker times lay ahead of Syria, and most probably the whole Middle East. #HappyNewYear