The revolution is no longer demonstrations in the alleys of Homs nor is it slogans and cynical banners raised by the youth. The maximum heroism is no more the hoisting of the flags of the revolution on the roofs of the houses nor is it sarcastic graffiti on the walls and bridges. Certainly, the demands of today are not the old calls that the regime give the Syrians respect and some freedom.
I am not sure if the regime has anything left to negotiate. There is talk about a political solution that could be deliberated by international parties who support the regime and those who back the revolution. This is called a “balloon solution” and will lead to a new mixed regime from which the monster and his family will go out. However, the next Geneva meeting will be decisive and might completely end the regime if the Iranians and the Russians oppose the exiting of Assad.
Syria is in real fighting on many fronts in and outside. There are youths fighting against the regime inside and military elements deserting the armed forces to join the Syrian Free Army. Some of them will succeed, while others will be shot dead. There are also some regional and international intelligence organs collecting information about the activities of Assad’s forces and their locations to give tips to the Syrian Free Army and the militias as well as to facilitate the delivery of weapons to them through secret passages. These organs also classify and regroup fighters, the weapons bought for them and the funds provided to them so as to prevent the idea of toppling the regime in a long, holy war, making Syria a new Afghanistan that is torn out by 20 years of wars in the name of Jihad, tribalism and sectarianism. The evil regime has friends who supply it with arms and fighters from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia via land and sea.
The situation on the ground looks the same like last year. The victory still seems to be for the regime, who has deployed more than 500,000 soldiers to fight the militias from a distance through rocket shelling, gun pounding and burning down houses and entire villages. The regime’s strategy is to go for collective punishment. The freedom fighters ambush the forces of the regime to cut the roads for them, confiscate their weapons, and liberate some kilometers of land. Next morning, the defeated military forces of the regime will call for reinforcements to regain what they have lost. There is a wide difference between the fighters, who defend their homes, families and areas, and the forces of the regime, which have become in the eyes of the Syrians an occupation army, as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal described it.
Even though the regime is fighting ferociously and with vindictive brutality, it incurs losses every day. There is no doubt that the regime is staggering and is gravely injured beyond repair. The regime was finished on the hands of those who were its loyal citizens one day. The regime is finished in the eyes of its citizens, because it has been sending its militias to kill their children and women.
According to the freedom fighters, the eastern parts of Syria — from Boukamal to Deir Al-Zour with its countryside and the outskirts of Al-Riqqa town — have been liberated by about 95 percent. This may be a small stripe only, but it will become big when we come to know that every day some areas liberate themselves from the grip of the exhausted regime.
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